


A Dream of Neocity

by readerrrr



Series: Escape from Neocity [1]
Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Psychics/Psionics, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Fluff, M/M, NCT Dream - Freeform, Na Jaemin-centric, NeoCity, Science Fiction, markhyuck! already established very minor relationship, nomin fluff, not all of nct is in this one but this is going to be a series i swear, small topic of poverty and capitalism but very small, they have psychic powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:53:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28523517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readerrrr/pseuds/readerrrr
Summary: Na Jaemin, lives in the slums of Neocity. His life consists of rummaging through trash to find his next meal and just trying to survive. One night he is visited in a dream by a strange voice that tells him he has to save Neocity. Will he be powerful enough to do it?orthe nct dream members have dreams that connect them together and are sent on a mission to save someone really important in Neocity. They discover they have psychic powers and that everything is not what it seems.this is the first part of a series of stories set in this universe.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: Escape from Neocity [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089446
Comments: 23
Kudos: 87





	1. Jaemin

Another dreary day in neocity. As the hover cars that float above their heads speed past each the residents of the Neocity ghettos live day in and day out just hoping to survive. This is how Jaemin has always known Neocity to be. The rich and powerful live above them in every sense of the word. While people like Na Jaemin who have been thrown away and cast aside struggle to stay alive, the affluent and the “important” live in their tall buildings that float above him. The cars and buildings of the high end of Neocity look down on Jaemin and people like him, too disgusted to even touch the same floor as him. That’s why they built fly cars and antigravity devices to keep their buildings afloat.

The only time Jaemin has ever seen people from the high end are when soldiers of the one hundred twenty seven divisions of the Neocity military come down to enforce the law and keep “order”. The order they keep is that of making sure the low end citizens of Neocity stay here, in the low end. The only time low end citizens are permitted to enter the high end is if they are employed by a high end family as a cook or a servant. The only other time low enders go to the high end is when they are arrested, but they are never seen again. 

Jaemin sifts through the trash, as he does every day, looking for something to eat or something of value. The low end is where the trash from the high end always ends up somehow. Today he finds nothing. The trash that was sent down today proved to have nothing of value to Jaemin in terms of their ability to be eaten or pawned off for extra cash. Seeing as he’s having no luck today, Jaemin steps away from the trash. Jaemin sluggishly makes his way back home.

Jaemin’s home is a collection of random sheets of metal and pieces of wood that he could find. Jaemin lives in a district of the lower end where all the people live like this. Most of the people in this district are young boys like him with no family and no jobs or money to support themselves with.

Jaemin mostly keeps to himself in this community of orphan boys but there is one in particular that he cares for very much. His young friend Jisung. Jisung, although quite tall, is like Jaemin’s child or baby brother. Jaemin takes care of him and shares whatever he can manage between the both of them. 

“Hyung did you find anything today?” Jisung asks Jaemin as he returns to his makeshift house that is right next to Jisung’s. All Jaemin can give in response is a defeated sigh and heavy shrug. “Jaemin hyung what are we going to do? This is the third day in a row that neither of us could find any food.”

“It’ll be okay Jisunggie. Hyung will figure it out,” Jaemin assured his young friend despite not knowing if he could truly deliver on his promise. “We’ll try again tomorrow for now just sleep. It’s getting late.” 

And so they did. Although it was hard to sleep with how hungry they had become after days of going without enough food, they slept. But this night was like any Jaemin had experienced before. Voices filled his mind as his body lay wrapped in a thin blanket on the ground. 

_ “Find them.” _

“Find who?” Jaemin asked the faceless voice _. _

_ “The other boys connected by dreams. Tomorrow you must apply to become a servant for a high end family, the Lee’s.” _

“Who are you? Why would I do that? I hate the high end!” Jaemin yells back into the void of his mind. 

_ “This is bigger than high end and low end. This is about the fate of Neocity and everyone that lives in it. It’s a matter of grave importance Na Jaemin. You will meet me soon enough. You are not powerful enough on your own. Please, we need you. We need all of you.” _

Jaemin wakes up gasping for air and clutching his chest as if somehow during his dream he had been holding his breath. The sun was already in the sky casting heat down upon him. He gets up and folds his thin blanket and safely stores it in his sheet metal home. Lost deep in thought about the dream he had last night Jaemin is startled by the sudden screams heard from inside the district encampment. 

“Hyung!” Jisung yells as he runs up to Jaemin with a panicked look in his eyes. “The 127th division soldiers are raiding the district!” 

“Why?” Jaemin asks in return. This is not the first time the 127th division has been sent to raid their district. Although it does not happen frequently it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The division usually comes down to raid a district if one of the residents came into possession of something they shouldn’t have. That being important technology, weapons, and/or other important objects or artifacts. 

“I-I think they’re here for me,” Jisung confessed to the older boy. His eyes shifting around nervously as he digs into his pocket. “I don’t know what it is but I found it in the trash!”

Jisung shows Jaemin a silver mirror chrome rectangle. The rectangle is made of a metallic material with no buttons, openings, or ridges. It looks like an ordinary metal box. 

“What is it?” Jaemin asks as he examines the metal box in Jisung’s hand.

“I have no idea but I think this is what they are looking for,” Jisung answers him. “Hyung what do I do? I don’t want to be arrested! I’m scared!”

“Calm down Jisunggie,” Jaemin tells him as he takes the box from the younger boy’s hand. “Hyung will take care of it.”

“What are you going to do?” Jisung worriedly asks, nervous that Jaemin is going to get himself in trouble trying to protect him like always. 

“I’m going to take it out of this district and dump it in a neighboring one so if they’re tracking it they’ll leave this area alone,” Jaemin says with determination written on his face. “It’ll be okay.”

And with that Jaemin takes off running in the opposite direction of the soldiers that are raiding the encampment. As he runs out of the encampment area he begins to hear footsteps running after him. The sound of many pairs of boots he acknowledges to be the soldiers of the division are following him. Knowing the streets of the lower end better, Jaemin runs through an alley trying to take a short cut to the next closest district to dump the item. 

Jaemin has been running and ducking around every corner for a little over an hour now. He’s close to the next district but it seems the soldiers knew he would be heading to the next closest district to get rid of the box. The number of soldiers he almost runs into the closer he gets to the next district is only increasing. The next district being that of one for the lower level family units. Jaemin's district is for boys that live on their own with no family. 

He makes it to the border between the two districts. Just as he hopes over the fence to the other side he hears people yelling after him. “You stop right there!” “He has the artifact!” Jaemin hears two voices but does not stop. As his feet hit the ground he’s off, sprinting as fast as he can away from the soldiers. 

About 10 minutes of running later Jaemin runs into someone. Another boy about his age but a few centimeters shorter than himself. “Sorry!” Jaemin yells as he continues running.

He can hear the man that was with the other boy yelling at him to be more careful. Must be the boys father or something Jaemin thinks has he continues to run. 

Finally thinking he’s far enough Jaemin dumps the strange box on a dumpster and runs off. Once exiting the area of the dumpster he slows his pace down to a leisurely walk so as to not draw extra suspicion to himself. He sees uniformed soldiers of the 127th division running in the direction of the artifact he just got rid of. 

“I wonder what it was? And how they lost it if it had a tracker in the first place,” Jaemin whispers to himself as he is almost back to the border of his district and the one he ran to. 

“Jaemin hyung!” Jisung runs and wraps Jaemin in a bone crushing hug. “I thought they got you! I thought you were on your way to the elevator by now!” 

Jaemin cooes at his young friend for being worried about him. “Aw Jisunggie! Do you not believe in me? Hyung told you he would take care of it, and he did. You should trust me more.” Jaemin pinches Jisung’s cheek as he scolds him in a baby voice. 

Jisung swats his hand away before stating, “I was worried about you! I was scared I’d never see you again. No one comes back from the elevator.” 

Ah yeah, The Elevator, Jaemin thinks to himself. The elevator is one of two means of getting to high end Neocity. The elevator is where the arrested and the criminals go up never to be seen again. The only people that would be able to tell what happens on the other side of the elevator are the soldiers, not that they would ever tell someone from the lower end. 

The other means of getting to the high end is Light Gate. The light gate is a teleportation platform that can only be activated from the high end. It’s made for low end citizens that get hired as servants or workers in the high end to get there. Low Enders that work in the high end usually come back to the low end about once a month if at all. They however are free to do so, low end workers may return once a month if they so choose but are not required to. Most that do return are those from the family based districts. They return to give the money they earned to their families that remain in the low end. 

“Don’t worry about me Jisunggie,” Jaemin assures him with a smile on his face. “Hyung isn’t going anywhere.” 

As the sky gets darker Jisung shares with Jaemin some food he scavenged while Jaemin was running from the soldiers. After the eventful day he’s had Jaemin’s instructions from the dream he had last night completely slip his mind.

But although he has forgotten his dream, the voice on the other end of his dream has not forgotten him. Jaemin upon falling asleep is visited once again. 

_ “Jaemin! You did not do as asked!” _

“I was a little busy!” Jaemin responds to the stranger in his mind.

_ “I saw. You had the obelisk.” _

“You know what that box was? How did you see me? Are you a soldier?” Jaemin asks now on alert.

_ “That's not important right now. What is important is that you become a servant for the Lee’s” _

“Why? If I go up I can’t take care of Jisung anymore! Aren’t there like tons of Lee families?! How will I know which one is the correct one?” Jaemin can’t help but feel he needs to listen to this voice. Something about the feeling inside this dream indicates that Jaemin should be taking this seriously. Which he is, but he takes caring for Jisung just as seriously. 

_ “He will be okay.” _

“What?” Jaemin asks.

_ “You will be reunited with Park Jisung at some point in the not too distant future,”  _ The voice assures him.  _ “We know this just as we know you must work for the Lee’s in order to find the others.”  _

“And how do you know this?” Jaemin skeptically inquires of the stranger. 

_ “I have been told of a vision of the future.” _

“That’s it? That’s all you can tell me?”

_ “The more I divulge about the vision the more likely it is for the events of it not to occur. Please Jaemin. We need you.” _

And with that Jaemin once again wakes up just like last time, out of breath and heart pounding. But he is able to find his composure much faster this time than the last. 

Jaemin rises to go to the registry of families that are looking for servants in the high end. As he makes his way over he feels someone watching him. He looks back over his shoulder a couple times to check but finds nothing out of the ordinary. Upon arriving at the registry and waiting in line Jaemin asks the clerk at the registry office if there are any Lee families looking for a servant.

“Ha! There’s always a Lee family looking for a servant kid,” the middle aged woman tells him. “But who you work for isn’t really your choice. Now stand in front of the scanner so your information and appearance can be recorded for potential employers.”

Jaemin does as he is told and stands in front of the scanner. A blue light comes out of the device and works its way over him recording his identity and physical traits as well as prompting any criminal history or offenses from the database. 

“Good record, which is surprising for a familyless like yourself,” The clerk comments as she looks through his file.

“What can I say I’m an upstanding citizen,” Jaemin overly sweetly remarks.

“Or you’re just sneaky,” the woman deadpans at him before turning back to the computer to complete the process. “You’re a handsome young man, I’m sure you’ll be employed by the end of the day. Why didn’t you sign up for this sooner.”

“I had things to take care of here,” Jaemin stated without elaborating. The woman completes filing Jaemin’s records before giving him a call device that will notify him if he had been hired.

“What could a familyless like you have to take care of here?” The woman asks as if it’s the funniest thing in the world. Familyless low ends take care of themselves and that’s it.

Jaemin thanks her for her help and takes the device from her. As he walks out the doors of the registry office he whispers to himself as he watches the ground as he walks. “Jisunggie is my family.”

As he exits the office he once again feels eyes on him. But this time he isn’t left to wonder where they are coming from. Jaemin lifts his face to meet the person in front of him. 

“Hyung what are you doing here?” Jisung questions him. 

“Was that you following me Jisung?” Jaemin asks as he starts walking away from the office knowing Jisung will follow after him. “I’m getting a job, what does it look like?”

“You’re leaving me?” Jisung asks the hurt and fear evident in his tone. 

“It’s not like that Jisunggie,” Jaemin tells him as he stops walking and faces the younger. 

“Then why?” Jisung asks with a light stomp of his foot. Jaemin would have found it cute if this confrontation was about something else.

Jaemin can’t just tell Jisung a voice in his sleep told him to get a job. Jisung will think he’s lost it. Jaemin needs to come up with something to dissuade the younger’s suspicions. 

“So you don’t have to eat trash anymore,” Jaemin says, it’s a lie but with some parts of it Jaemin truly believed. “If we didn’t have to rummage through the trash for every meal then you wouldn’t have picked up that weird box yesterday. If I go up there I can come back once a month and give you enough money to live a better life Jisunggie.”

“But you don’t have to do this! You can get a job down here! I don’t mind looking through the trash! I’ll be more careful next time! Please don’t leave me Hyung!” Jisung cries as he clings onto his Hyung, the only person he’s ever loved and felt loved by. 

“Oh Jisunggie,” Jaemin softly says as he wipes the tears off the other boy's face. “It’ll be okay. I’ll make sure we have a better life. I promise. You’ll always have me.” 

Just as Jaemin makes this promise, the device that the registry gave him dings indicating he has been hired. The two boys look at each other with wide eyes. They are only a couple streets down from the registry. 

“That has to be a new record!” Jisung exclaims. “No one gets hired that fast.” 

It’s true. Most people wait weeks or even months to be hired if they ever get hired at all. It’s true more attractive servants are hired faster because high end employers often get servants to match their aesthetics. But getting hired within 20 minutes of leaving the registry is entirely unheard of. 

“Let’s head back to the encampment,” Jaemin says as he pulls Jisung along with him. They are returning to the encampment to gather Jaemin’s belongings that he will take with him to the high end. Although it doesn’t take long as he has very few belongings. 

“Hyung take this,” Jisung says as he hands Jisung a colorful bracelet. “I may have found it in the trash, but something from me so you always have me with you.” 

“Oh Jisunggie,” Jaemin hugs the younger tightly. “Thank you.” 

Jisung decides he will walk Jaemin all the way to the Light Gate. He will walk him and stay with him as far as he can. They stop at the gates just outside the teleportation platforms. The two turn to face each other as they prepare to say their final goodbye.

Before either of them works up the courage to say anything a soldier comes up to the pair and aggressively grabs Jaemin. 

“Got you kid!” The soldier says, although this face is hidden by his helmet the victorious smirk he wears can be heard through his voice. “You may have lost us yesterday, but it was pretty stupid of you to come to the most guarded place in the lower end.” 

“Let him go! He just got hired!” Jisung protests which quickly earns him a warning glare from Jaemin telling him to chill out. If Jisung causes any trouble Jaemin won’t be the only one getting apprehended today. More guards come to take Jaemin away. “Take him to the elevator.”

Panic flashes from both Jaemin and Jisung’s faces as they look at each other. The Elevator. “Jisunggie, remember Hyung loves you. Please take care of yourself.”

“Please don’t take him!” Jisung at this point is sobbing, heavy tears stream down his face as he watches Jaemin get dragged away by the soldiers. “You promised! It would be okay!”

“I will keep my promise Jisung!” Jaemin yells on the verge of crying. The only thing keeping his tears at bay is knowing that if he cries now Jisung will lose all hope. if he breaks now, Jisung will break too. “It will be okay! I promise!”

That’s the last thing they get to say to each other as Jaemin is thrown into the back of a hover car and hauled off to the other side of the lower end where the elevator is located. Jaemin stares out the window of the hover car. This is the first time he’s ever been in one. He'd be more excited if he didn’t know where it was taking him. The buildings of the lower end zip past just below them as the hover car makes it to the elevator.

The elevator is visible from anywhere in the lower end. A light blue metallic tube that goes from the ground into the city in the sky is hard to miss. Jaemin has never seen the elevator up close before and hoped that he never would have to. But here he is, handcuffed in front of the metal tube that will take him to his fate. Jaemin is shoved into the elevator nearly losing his balance. Two soldiers enter with him without saying a word. The doors to the elevator close and they begin their ascent. As they rise Jaemin feels lighter, as if he could lift off his own feet at any second. All of this would have been really cool to Jaemin without the context of his situation. 

After much less time than Jaemin had anticipated the doors of the elevator open and his normal weight is reconstituted making him stand firmly on the ground. The soldiers again aggressively push him out of the elevator into what feels like a completely different world. 

Unlike the lower end the high end is bright, clean, and technologically advanced. Everything is a very light blue color, all the buildings and hover cars and roads. The lights that come off the buildings and other technologies are a lime green color. Jaemin marvels at the sight. He doesn’t know what he expected the high end to look like because he never thought he would see it. But seeing it now he is sure that it is beyond anything he could have imagined. 

Jaemin wants to see more of this place but unfortunately just as he was shoved out of the elevator he is shoved along to take him presumably to a holding cell where he will be questioned before he is put to death.

As Jaemin hopelessly follows the guards to whatever his fate may be, they are stopped by a voice. 

“Excuse what do you think you’re doing?” A deep voice politely asks.

“We’re taking this prisoner in to pay for his crimes,” one of the soldiers harshly states without looking to see who had asked. 

“Allow me to ask again, what do you think you are doing with my servant?” The voice asks now much more firmly than his prior question. 

“What do you mean your servant? Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m not sure if you can tell kid but I’m a soldier of the 127th division-“ the same soldier replies as he turns to face the voice now but stops short upon recognizing the speaker. 

The voice belonged to a very attractive young man in Jaemin’s opinion. He was about the same height as Jaemin and approximately the same age. He had a calmness to him that might be comforting in any other situation. In this instance his calmness was almost threatening to the soldiers as if he had the unquestionable advantage in this situation. And maybe he did, with his platinum blonde hair and well build frame he did not seem to be someone to trifle with. 

“Y-young sir L-lee,” the soldier stammers out as he and the other soldier bow to the young man. “Please excuse my disrespect sir. I did not see who was speaking; it was my mistake entirely. We were just taking this prisoner to his sentencing and-“

“But he is my servant.” The young sir Lee says. “I would appreciate it if you gave him to me now.”

“But sir this boy is a criminal, charged with theft and evading the division. Surely you don’t want a servant with that type of history.” The soldier pleads trying to warn the seemingly important young man. 

“Surely you don’t want me telling my brother that you disobeyed when I asked for something do you? May I have your ID and batch number soldier?” The young high ended asks in a sarcastically polite tone. 

“No! Please don’t tell the general!” The soldier begs as he unhandcuffs Jaemin. “Get out your hiring device kid! Don’t make young sir wait.” He sneers at the confused low ender. 

Jaemin cautiously reaches into his pocket to retrieve the registry device he got earlier. 

“Are you sure this is the servant you hired sir?” The other soldier carefully asks, it is Jaemin’s first time hearing his voice. 

“Oh I’m certain. I hired him not long ago today.” the young man says before turning to face Jaemin directly. "Isn’t that right, Na Jaemin?”


	2. Jeno

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back to neocity everyone! hope you're all safe and healthy out there!

“Isn’t that right, Na Jaemin?” Jaemin stares at the other young man for less than a fraction of a second before jumping into action.

“Why yes of course sir Lee. It is an honor and my pleasure to be working for you. Thank you so much,” Jaemin states with the most reverent of tones. He offers a respectful ninety degree bow before stepping away from the soldiers that had once been arresting him.

“If that will be all soldiers, I’ll tell my brother you have done a great service of delivering my servant to me personally today. We’ll be off now,” the young sir Lee says before walking away. He doesn’t say anything or look at Jaemin as he does so but Jaemin guesses he should follow him since he would prefer to be away from the soldiers. 

They walk in silence for a while, partially because Jaemin doesn’t know what to say to him or even who he is and partially because he is still amazed by his surroundings and trying to take it all in. Jaemin marvels at the sheer amount of flying cars and bikes here. He’s only ever seen one of two at a time in the low end but here they fill the skies as if everyone has one. Jaemin is so busy taking in the high end that he does not notice his new employer stop right in front of him. Jaemin unsuspectingly runs right into the back of the other man. This is enough to shock Jaemin out of his daydreaming.

“I’m so sorry!” Jaemin says bowing his head a little bit. 

The other man let’s out a small chuckle as he turns to face Jaemin. “It’s okay don’t worry.” The corners of his mouth tilt upward and his eyes fold into crescent shapes as he gives Jaemin a small but heart warming smile. 

Jaemin’s breath catches in his throat for a moment as a blush starts the creep onto his cheeks. “T-thank you, by the way, for saving me from the soldiers back there,” Jaemin says, trying to say anything to distract from the sudden rush of color on his face.

_ “Cute”  _ Jaemin hears in his head. But it’s not his own voice and it’s not the voice from the dreams. It’s not a voice he is familiar with.

“It’s not a problem, the dreams told me to come get you,” the other man informs him. Jaemin’s eyes go wide realizing he is not the only one having dreams.

“You have them too?” Jaemin asks the other for confirmation. The other man just nods in response before Jaemin asks another question. “How did you know I have dreams? What if I didn’t and you just told a stranger that? They would think you’re crazy.”

“But you do have them,” the other boy replies as if it’s as simple as that. “I don’t know how I’m certain but I am.”

“Okay well mister Lee, I also had a couple dreams telling me to come work for you,” Jaemin casually dusting his pants and shirt just to avoid standing there awkwardly. “What’s next -“ Jaemin stops realizing that he does not know the name of his new employer.

_ “Jeno”  _ the same voice from earlier says.

“Jeno?” Jaemin finishes his question. He watches as Jeno’s eyes widen just slightly at the fact that Jaemin somehow suddenly knew his name.

“I didn’t tell you my name. How did you know it?” Jeno inquires. Jaemin thinks for a moment before shrugging and telling Jeno the truth of the matter. “I don’t know, I just heard it right now. Someone told it to me.” 

“But there’s no one else here,” Jeno is right there is no one else around them. It's just the two boys standing in front of a residential building. 

“Well I heard it. I swear I’m not crazy!” Jaemin tries to tell the other but Jeno doesn’t seem too bothered by any of it. 

Jeno takes a gentle hold of Jaemin’s wrist and begins to lead him into the building they are standing outside of. “Well if I didn’t think we were crazy already for following directions from a dream then I don’t think you somehow knowing my name will change that either.” 

Jeno brings Jaemin to the front desk of the building and has him stand in front of a scanner. A familiar blue light washes over his body recording his identity and new position as Jeno’s employee. “Now you’ll be able to get in and out of here with or without me present,” Jeno tells him.

“And where exactly is here?” Jaemin asks as they enter an elevator. This is the second elevator Jaemin has been in today and in his entire life. This one is different though unlike the elevator from the lower end this one does not make him feel any lighter. Jaemin looks at his hands and feet wondering if he had imagined that feeling to begin with. 

“You’re confused,” Jeno says more so as a statement than a question. As if he already knows he’s correct. 

Jaemin nods, “I am. The elevator from the low end, it made me feel...weird. This one doesn’t.” Jaemin does his best to explain why he’s confused but none of it really makes sense to him.

“This is a normal elevator. And the elevator that brought you up here is the gravity elevator,” Jeno explains to him. “It uses the same gravity technology that keeps the high end above the low end. Without that gravity technology the high end would fall and crush the low end. In a similar fashion the gravity elevator brings you up here faster and safer than a normal elevator could.” 

“Isn’t that dangerous? What if there’s a power outage or something?” Jaemin curiously asks. 

Jeno lets out a breathy chuckle and lightly shakes his head, “First of all that’s not possible. Neocity has never had a power outage and either way the antigravity technology is self sustaining. Even if there was a power outage the high end would continue floating.”

Jaemin just nods only understanding some of the information Jeno just gave him. But the answers do prompt another question, “how do you know all this? And why did those soldiers down there listen to you?” 

The elevator dings and opens up to a large penthouse apartment that is minimalistically decorated to look clean and futuristic. “It’s simple really, my brother is one of the people in charge of Neocity.” 

“And who is your brother?” Jaemin asks without facing Jeno. He looks around the hallways and living room as he follows Jeno to another room. “Lee Taeyong.”

Jaemin’s head whips around so quick to face Jeno with an expression that is a mix of surprise and terror. “Your brother is Lee Taeyong like General Lee Taeyong of the captains!?” Jeno nods his head in confirmation. 

“Oh good what are we doing here!? What are you doing!? What’s happening?!” Jaemin shoots off questions as soon as he can think of them. Panic starts to set in on him as Jeno shuts the door of the room they just entered. Jaemin is shaking as he looks out of the floor to ceiling windows of the room. He sees the high end of Neocity. Less than an hour ago he thought this place was the most exciting marvelous place he could experience but now it feels like every second he spends here the closer he gets to his doom. 

“Hey it’s alright. Calm down alright?” Jeno tries to console Jaemin but it has no effect. Jaemin can’t help but worry about what’s going to happen to him up here.  _ “I’m going to die. I’m going to die here. What about Jisunggie? I’m going to die.”  _

Jaemin can hear Jeno groan as if he’s experiencing some sort of headache. “You’re not going to die okay? Just calm down.” Jeno reaches out to gently hold Jaemin by the shoulder. As he does he utters gently one more time, “please calm down.”

And just as Jeno makes contact with him and says those words Jaemin feels calm. He’s still worried but the panic that set in just moments ago for some reason has completely dissipated. Jaemin slowly turns to Jeno with appreciative eyes and a tight lipped smile. “Thanks,” he whispers. 

They stare into the others eyes for a while. Without saying anything. Jaemin thinks he hears the other say “wow” but doesn’t see his lips move to form the word. “So, what’s next? This is as far as the instructions in the dream tell me to go.” Jaemin asks Jeno. 

Jeno gives Jaemin a puzzling look, “what do you mean the instructions the dream gave you?” 

“I thought we went over this? The dreams that you and I have both been having. A voice comes into our heads and tells us to do things,” Jaemin exasperatedly explains. But he once again receives a puzzled look from Jeno in return.

“My dreams never talked to me,” Jeno tells him.

It’s Jaemin’s turn to look puzzled.  _ Does he not have the same dreams as I do?  _ Jaemin thinks to himself. Wanting more clarity on how their dreams differ Jaemin asks, “what exactly happens in your dreams?”

Jeno thinks for a moment before responding, “well it’s unlike any dreams I’ve ever had before. For one, I remember them, exactly what I see and hear. But it doesn’t really talk to me. It whispers words here and there. I also see things, they look like memories. Hazy and fleeting, but there’s also feelings and emotions tied to each scene that flashes before the dream ends. There are no instructions. It’s actually really hard to hear what the voice says. All I heard was your name but that was confirmed by the things I saw. Then I wake up out of breath. What were yours like?”

Jaemin finds a place to sit in the room as he ponders this situation and prepares to tell Jeno of his dreams. “Well like you I remember them perfectly and wake up having a hard time breathing. But I don’t see anything in them, just darkness. But I hear a voice loud and clear and it talks to me and I talk back. It told me to become a servant for the Lee family here in the high end which is pretty obviously you. But I’ve never been shown any images or felt any emotions in them other than my own.” The two look at each other trying to think of what any of this could mean. They’re stumped, no words are exchanged about why this is happening to them.

“I guess we just wait for the next dream then?” Jeno suggests having no idea what else they can really do for the time being. “Sure.” 

“Okay well, this is your room,” Jeno tells him, gesturing to the room surrounding them. “My room?!” Jaemin asks in disbelief. He’s never had his own room before, much less one this nice. 

“I can’t live here it’s too much,” Jaemin shyly admits while robbing the nape of his neck. 

_ “Cute”  _ the same voice from earlier chimes in Jaemin’s head. 

“It’s okay this room is one of the smaller ones and it’s right next to mine,” Jeno tries to assure him. “This is one of the smallest?!” Jaemin asks, even more shocked. “B-but this room is so big…”

Jaemin suddenly feels a little sad as he looks out the window. Is this how the other half lives? He wishes he could have lived like this his whole life. He wishes he could give Jisung and him a life like this. Instead of living in their makeshift homes and digging through the trash for food. Why does someone as good and pure as Jisung have to suffer down there? He cries out for Jisung in his thoughts hoping someone might hear him but knowing no one will. 

Jeno groans again feeling an aching in his head, “are you okay? Who’s Jisung?” Jeno asks. Jaemin quickly turns to look at him before demanding, “How do you know that name?” 

“Well you said it,” Jeno stated as if it’s obvious. 

“Did I?” Jaemin wonders if he actually said Jisung’s name out loud when he was thinking of him. “Yeah just a second ago and earlier when you were freaking out. I heard you say it then. Who is he?” Jeno asks.

“He’s my friend,” Jaemin says longingly as he looks back out the window at the hover cars zooming by down below. “Well more like my little brother. I take care of him and we watch out for each other on the streets.” 

“You’re worried about him,” Jeno says. “Is it hard for you down there? I’m sorry you had to leave him alone.” He gently touches Jaemin’s back and although they met just earlier today Jaemin feels comforted by the gesture. It starts from where Jeno touches him and radiates through his body. 

Jaemin wants to be mad. He wants to say that of course it’s hard. They struggle to find anything to eat everyday. He wants to tell him that his sorry means nothing in the face of the hardship they’ve experienced. He wants to say that coming here and leaving Jisung alone was a mistake. 

But he can’t. Jeno didn’t create this system, Jeno has probably never even been down to lower end. Jeno had no part in making Neocity the way it is now. Jaemin doesn’t want to be mad at him. Maybe it’s because he feels oddly comforted by his presence and his touch or maybe it’s because Jeno is the only life line he has in this situation but Jaemin is not mad at Jeno.

“It is hard for us. Every day,” Jaemin tells Jeno. “You don’t have to be sorry. It’s not your fault, but thank you for the concern. I think the sooner we finish this the sooner I can return back home. I’m just glad he’s in a less life threatening situation than I am at the moment.”

“Let’s do our best to make sure you are reunited with Jisung okay?” Jeno offers a soft smile.

“Okay.” Jaemin returns the small sincere smile. 

It’s not much longer till nightfall comes. The two boys spend the rest of the day familiarizing Jaemin with what rules he should follow and things he should avoid while here in the higher end. 

Jeno also shows Jaemin a closet in his room full of clothes that are for the higher end. Unlike Jaemin’s usual attire of brown and beige utility clothes, the closet is full of white clothes with accents of sky blue and lime green. They are made of breathable semi elastic material that seems very comfortable to move and even run in but looks more formal than he would have expected from such things. The only other clothes he’s seen of high enders are the soldiers of the 127th division and he would hardly call military gear normal high end fashion.

Jeno also shows Jaemin to another room that is attached to this one. This room is just as clean and presstine but it has an oddly shaped white chair and what looks like a small boat. Jaemin looks at the room unsure of what he’s doing here and what Jeno is showing him. 

“Um Jaemin,” Jeno cautiously asks. “You’re confused. What’s wrong?” 

“How do you always seem to know what I’m feeling?” Jaemin asks him but doesn’t give him a second to respond before continuing. “I’m confused because I don’t really know what this room is? Why are we here?” 

“Jaemin this is a bathroom,” Jeno tells him. 

“This is a bathroom?!” Jaemin asks once again, unable to believe how different things are in the high end than his home. “What’s that chair and that little boat? Where’s the toilet?” 

Jaemin can hear Jeno laugh, it’s louder and more full than the chuckle he heard from him earlier. Jaemin once again blushes at the other boy's actions. It doesn’t last long before Jeno starts to explain. “That chair is the toilet. And that little boat is the bathtub.” 

“I’ve never seen a toilet like this before,” Jaemin says as he walks up to the porcelain throne to examine it. “And what’s a bathtub?” 

“You don’t know what a bathtub is?” Jeno asks, having trouble believing his ears. “Well it’s where you clean yourself and wash away dirt and stench. How do you clean your body where you’re from?” 

“We just get sprayed down by the sanitation engineers so we don’t smell bad,” Jaemin states as if that should be the most obvious thing in the world. “Will you show me how it works?” 

Jaemin can see Jeno’s ears and cheeks get a little pink as his eyes widen a bit. “U-uh, I-I mean. If y-you really want me to?” 

Jaemin watches as Jeno turns some switches and the small boat or bathtub begins to fill with water. There is light steam coming off the warm water and Jeno adds some sort of colored liquid to it as it fills. Then like magic Jaemin watches as the tub is filled with bubbles of a light pink tint. Jeno turns the switches and the water stops pouring into the tub. 

“So now what?” Jaemin curiously asks as he is enamored by the pretty bubbles. 

“Now you get in,” Jeno tells him.

And Jaemin prepares to do just that as he walks to the tub. He’s already lifted one foot to get in the small boat when Jeno stops him just before touching the water. “Wait wait!” Jaemin turns to see Jeno’s cheeks and ears even redder than before. 

“You need to take your clothes off,” Jeno quietly says without looking at Jaemin’s face but rather he is facing the floor. 

“Oh,” Jaemin shyly laughs as he begins to strip himself of his brown and beige low ender clothes. Jeno turns around so as to not invade Jaemin’s privacy like that and allows him to free himself of his clothes. Jeno only turns around again once he hears Jaemin sink down into the water of the bathtub. 

“Okay this is soap. It’s for your body and this is shampoo, it’s for cleaning your hair,” Jeno informs Jaemin who is now seated in the tub. 

With any other instructions he needs to give Jaemin out of the way, Jeno leaves him to do his business in the bathroom. 

Jaemin spends quite a while in the bathroom. From enjoying the warm water or seeing his skin free of dirt for the first time in his life. Jaemin relishes the experience because he’s unsure for how long he’ll be able to indulge in such a luxury. Jeno knocks on the door at some point and leaves some new clothes for Jaemin in the room so he can wear them when he’s done. 

Jaemin takes his time dressing and familiarizing himself with the other products in the bathroom. Once he’s fully clothed in new high ender lounge wear he exits the bathroom to find Jeno seated on the bed waiting for him. 

Jeno peaks through his platinum blonde bangs and asks, “So, how was it?” Jaemin’s smile only grows thinking about how he took a bath for the first time in his life just now. “It was amazing.” 

Jeno chuckles as he stands from the bed. The sun outside has already set and Jaemin can now see a very different view than when he arrived. Before he saw Neocity in the midday sun, but now in the darkness of night Jaemin sees a glowing Neocity, illuminated by different lights that give the city a new appearance. 

“Wow,” Jaemin says. Jeno walks up to him, also admiring the view of the city. “It’s getting late so I’m going to head to bed. I’ll see you in the morning okay? Don’t stay up too late,” Jeno says as he pats Jaemin’s shoulder comfortingly. 

As Jeno leaves the room Jaemin sits on the edge of the bed as he continues to watch the city below begin to become less active. The hover cars decrease in speed and frequency of their passing by. The bed is much softer than the floor he used to sleep on in the lower end and the blanket is much softer and warmer. It’s not long before Jaemin finds his eyelids getting heavier as he drifts off into the most comfortable sleep he has had in his entire life. 

_ “Well done Jaemin.” _ The dream voice says. 

“Thanks, whoever you are. Was that you talking to me earlier today too?” Jaemin asks into the dark void of his dream.

_ “What? I have only been able to talk to you here. I have never been able to commune with you while you were awake.”  _

“Then who was it?” Jaemin asks mildly concerned that now another person might be invading his mind. 

_ “I think it might have been you.”  _ The voice answers although this does not make anything clearer to Jaemin about the situation. 

“What do you mean it might have been me?” Jaemin questions. 

_ “I’m not sure yet. But I think there might be a reason why I can only connect to certain people through dreams.”  _ The voice wonders making it very clear that they do not really know or understand the nature of their connection to Jaemin and whoever else may be having dreams similar to this. 

“Can I ask you how Jisung is? Do you know?” Jaemin inquires. 

_ “Jisung is alright,”  _ The voice answers.  _ “I think, from what you told me today. Maybe you should try reaching out to him, with your mind.” _

“With my mind?” Jaemin asks in a condescending tone indicating that he does not believe the voice is being serious. 

_ “Okay well Jaemin, if you talking to a stranger in your dreams at night wasn’t enough to convince you that sometimes things are just weird then I don’t know what will,”  _ The voice replies in a very sassy tone. Whoever this voice belongs to seems very eccentric Jaemin thinks to himself. 

“Whatever, I’ll try when I wake up,” Jaemin concludes. “Do you have any more instructions for me?” 

_ “I do,”  _ The voice says zoning back into the subject at hand.  _ “Find the other servant. Then find the obelisk.” _

“The obelisk? Do you mean the box I got arrested for hiding?” Jaemin can’t believe he has to put himself in danger to get something he had already been in possession of. “Will you at least tell me the other servant's name?” 

_ “You were supposed to keep the obelisk. We need it if we’re going to succeed,”  _ The voice says.  _ “You’ll find the obelisk at the department of science and technology. As for the other servant,” _

_ “His name is Huang Renjun.”  _

And with that Jaemin wakes up, out of breath as usual. He pants heavily for a short while before collecting himself. It’s still night outside as he can see from the window. Unlike every other time he had a dream it was usually daybreak by the time he awoke. Before doing anything else he tries to do what the voice says and thinks of telling Jisung something. He touches the bracelet Jisung gave him as he concentrates on reaching out to him.

_ “Jisunggie, hyung is okay. I hope you’re okay. I will keep my promise.”  _

Jaemin waits but gets no response. He rolls his eyes before he rolls out of bed.

Jaemin assumes that Jeno has also likely had a dream so he finds his way out of his room and shuffles over to Jeno’s. He enters the room, it’s very similar to his in design and color scheme but is considerably larger. 

As he walks over to the bed he notices that Jeno is still asleep. Jaemin sits at the foot of the bed and resolves to just wait until Jeno wakes up. Jaemin finds himself to still be quite tired so he lays on the bed waiting for Jeno to wake up. 

The next thing he knows he hears someone gasp and try to catch their breath. Coming from the lower end when things could and would happen at any time of the day means that Jaemin is not a heavy sleeper. His eyes shoot open to find Jeno trying to collect himself after presumably having a dream as well. 

“Hey hey, it’s okay,” Jaemin says as he pats Jeno’s back comfortingly to try and help him recollect his composure. Jeno says a quiet thank you as his breath steadys. 

“What are you doing here?” Jeno asks Jaemin who flinches as their eyes meet. 

“W-well, I woke up from my dream before you did I guess. But I came here thinking you might be awake also and we could like talk about it?” Jaemin finishes his sentence with more of an unsure tone than he had intended. “But you woke up later than me.”

Jeno turns to check the clock on his bedside table. “Oh I woke up later than the last two dreams.” He states.

“I woke up much earlier than the other ones,” Jaemin adds. “I guess they don’t happen at the same time.” 

They sit quietly for a minute as they realize how close they are sitting to each other. After Jaemin had comforted Jeno in composing himself after the dream he had stayed in that spot. Jeno shyly looks away from Jaemin before he asks what’s on both of their minds. 

“So what did you get?” Jeno asks while looking at his barely visible hands in the poorly lit room. 

“We need to get the obelisk and the other servant,” Jaemin states. 

“Huang Renjun,” Jeno fills in. 

“Yes, so they told you a name this time?” Jaemin guesses. 

“They showed me a name and whispered it to me so I guess kind of,” Jeno replies. “It’s still dark out and the dream showed me that I hire him at around 10am so I think we should go back to sleep and get some rest. I think we’ll have a long day tomorrow.” 

“Alright,” Jaemin says as he starts to rise from his spot on the bed next to Jeno. “You can stay here, if you want to.” Jaemin can hear Jeno quietly say.

“Oh,” Jaemin blushes a little unsure of what to say. 

“Only if you want to,” Jeno frantically says, obviously trying to make things less awkward. “I don’t want to pressure you into staying. I just thought it might be hard to be alone right now with everything that is going on. If you don’t want to then it’s okay just forget-“

“Okay,” Jaemin softly interrupts him.

“Okay what?” Jeno asks.

Without saying another word Jaemin gets under the covers and lays closely to Jeno’s warm body. No other words are exchanged as the two get comfortable in bed. They don’t touch each other but they definitely lay closer to each other than they need to considering Jeno’s bed is rather large. 

The next morning they wake up and dress in proper clothes for outside. These are more formal than the ones that Jaemin wore to sleep last night. They are from the closet Jeno showed him and are made of that semi elastic breathable material. Jaemin notes that they are more comfortable than they look like they would be. 

Jaemin follows Jeno through the high end as they make their way to the light gate to collect Jaemin’s new “coworker”. They watch as low enders walk through the teleportation pad. Jaemin doesn’t pay much attention as the dream did not show him a face so him looking wouldn’t really help.

“There he is,” Jeno says as he grasps Jaemin’s hand and leads him over to the other boy. As Jaemin turns to face their new compatriot, he and the newcomer stop as they look into each other’s eyes. He is a few centimeters shorter than both Jeno and Jaemin and looks very familiar to Jaemin. 

“Wait have we met before?” Renjun asks Jaemin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are you liking the story so far???
> 
> thanks for reading! see you again next week!


	3. Renjun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to Neocity everyone! Hope you enjoy your time here <3

“Wait have we met before?” Renjun asks Jaemin.

“I think so?” Jaemin replies, definitely having seen the other boy’s face before but unsure of where. 

Jeno looks between the both of them, surprise clearly painted on his face. “Do all people in the lower end know each other?” Jeno asks. 

Both Renjun and Jaemin give him a look that says what-are-you-dumb. “No,” Renjun states with the most monotone of voices. 

“I ran into you two days ago,” Jaemin remembers the incident a little bit. “Oh! You were running and bumped into me,” Renjun recollects. The two share a small laugh about the coincidence that occurred just the other day. 

“Hi Renjun. I’m Lee Jeno,” Jeno shakes Renjun’s hand. “And I guess welcome to the high end.” 

“It’s nice to meet you Jeno,” Renjun smiles. 

“And I’m Jaemin. Looks like we’ll both be servants while we’re here,” Jaemin introduces himself as well before shaking Renjun’s hand also.

Jeno snorts a laugh at the exchange, “It’s not like that. I only hired you because the dreams said too. I’ve never wanted a servant, much less two of them. You’re purely here to work together on whatever it is that we’re doing.” Jeno tells them without a single hesitation in his voice. 

_ “He’s not what I expected,”  _ Jaemin hears Renjun say. 

“I know right?” Jaemin tells him in reply. 

“You know what?” Renjun asks Jaemin with an incredulous look on his face. “That he’s not what you expected of a high ender,” Jaemin tells him, frowning lightly because how does someone forget what they just said. Maybe he thought he was just saying it to himself but said it out loud by accident. 

“Oh yeah,” Renjun quietly says and nods his head. “So you two have the dreams too?” 

“Kind of,” Jeno replies. He then proceeds to tell Renjun how him and Jaemin’s dreams differ from each other in terms of delivery. As Jaemin and Jeno account their dreams to Renjun, a puzzled look overcomes the shortest boy's face. “So we don’t all get the same dreams? But they tell us the same things?” 

“Basically,” Jaemin says. “Why don’t you tell us what yours are like?” 

Renjun nods and ponders for a second before starting, “Well, I guess some parts are the same. I wake up having trouble breathing and it doesn’t fade from my mind after waking up. But I suppose where it differs is that my dreams are silent. I don’t hear a single thing while in them. But I see images and scenarios crisp and clearly. It’s like I’m present and watching with my own eyes. I didn’t know either of your names before coming here today. I just recognized what you looked like from the dream.” 

Jaemin groans after Renjun finishes his account of his dreams. “It just makes less and less sense everyday.” Jeno and Renjun don’t say anything in response but nod their heads in agreement with his statement. They all know that this hasn’t gotten any easier to understand since it all started a couple days ago. 

“I have two questions,” Renjun says. “One, why did we all choose to follow what the dreams told us? And two, what is the shiny silver box?” 

Jeno and Jaemin look at each other for a moment as if expecting the other to have an answer to the first question but neither having one. “I don’t know to be honest. It just felt like I had to, like it was important.” Jeno vaguely fills in, having no real answer as to why he listened to the dream. 

“As for the silver box, it’s called the obelisk. And apparently we need to find it,” Jaemin answers this time. “But didn’t you have it already?” Renjun asks because he remembers seeing it in Jaemin’s hand a couple days ago when they ran into each other. 

“I did, but I didn’t know we needed it. Plus that stupid box got me arrested,” Jaemin grumbles because truthfully things would be easier if he had known he needed that artifact when he was already in possession of it. “I don’t really know where to start looking though. The dream didn’t tell me.” 

“It’s at a research facility,” Renjun tells him. “I saw it in my dream. The sign said it was the department of science and technology.” 

Jeno nods in agreement, “It’s in a research lab there. In my dream it looked like they were studying it.” Jaemin nods once to indicate that he understands, “So, do you know where this facility is?” This question directed at Jeno as he is the only native high ender among them. 

“I do, but I’m not sure how we’re going to get in,” Jeno tells them. “Why don’t you just tell them who your brother is?” Jaemin asks.

“That won’t work. These are scientist captains not military captains,” Jeno quickly retorts. “I feel like it might help still. He’s pretty important,” Jaemin persists. 

Renjun looks between the two of them mildly confused by the discussion they are having. “Who is your brother?” He asks.

“General Lee Taeyong.”

“What?!” Renjun yells, gaining the attention of some people passing by them in the street near the light gate he arrived through. 

Jaemin laughs knowing he reacted the same way. After explaining that issue to Renjun they make their way to the department building that Jeno and Renjun saw in their dreams. The building is not terribly large and does not particularly flaunt that it’s an important laboratory. If not for the sign above the door and the dreams they would likely have not even noticed it. The door is guarded by two soldiers in their white uniforms. 

“Well, seeing as we are technically servants,” Jaemin looks to Jeno to take the lead. Jeno groans in response before fixing his posture a little and walking ahead of the other two boys. 

“Good afternoon soldier. I am Lee Jeno, youngest brother of General Lee Taeyong. He asked me to pick something up for him from here. May I enter?” The two soldiers look at each other before checking a hologram display screen that projects from their wrists.

“It doesn’t seem to be written on the schedule. Do you know what it is that you’re here to pick up?” One of the soldiers asks Jeno. These soldiers are obviously not as scared of getting on Jeno’s bad side as the soldiers they encountered yesterday. 

“The General does not tell me what he sends me to pick up so unfortunately I am not in a position to know classified information,” Jeno tries to convince them. 

“Then I’m sorry sir. We cannot allow you to enter,” the soldier tells Jeno. If it were Jaemin leading at this point he would have started panicking and causing a scene or trying whatever he could to get in those doors. But it’s not Jaemin in the lead, Jeno in contrast simply nods his head. 

“I understand thank you for your help,” as he intently stares at one of the soldiers. Jeno then turns around and signals for the two low enders to follow after him. “What are we going to do?” Jaemin asks once they are out of earshot from the soldiers. 

“We need to find someone,” Jeno replies. “There is another boy around our age that those guards would let in without asking too many questions.”

“How do you know this?” Renjun this time asks. “I saw it,” Jeno simply replies. 

“What does that mean? Like in the dream?” Renjun questions further. 

“No like just now when we were talking to them,” Jeno informs the younger men. “It must have been the person from the dream sending me a memory or something to help us get the obelisk.”

Jaemin shakes his head as to disagree with Jeno’s guess about the situation. “The person in the dream told me they haven’t been able to reach us so far while we are awake. They could not have sent you that memory.” Jaemin ponders a little longer before continuing, “But, the dream did tell me yesterday that they can only connect with certain people and they don’t know why. There is something about us in particular that makes them able to connect with us.” 

“So are you saying he can see people’s memories?” Renjun asks eyes wide with disbelief. “Maybe? I don’t really know but I know I’ve been hearing voices while I’ve been awake the last couple days.” 

_ “Maybe you’re just crazy,”  _ Jaemin hears Renjun say. 

“I’m not crazy,” Jaemin tells him. “I didn’t say you were,” Renjun replies to the accusation. 

“You just did!” Jaemin angrily replies back. “No, I certainly thought it, but I didn’t say it!” Renjun sassily tells him. 

Jeno looks between the both of them as they argue before he decides to jump in, “wait that’s it!”

The two boys turn to him and cease their discussion of whether or not Renjun thinks Jaemin has lost his mind. “Renjun didn’t say anything. But he thought it. Maybe that’s what you heard. Maybe you can hear thoughts.”

_ “Yeah he’s definitely lost his mind,”  _ Renjun says. “I agree on that one,” Jaemin says back.

Renjun quickly turns to face Jaemin with a look of shock. “Y-you just did it. I didn’t say anything out loud,” Renjun sputters out in surprise. “Quick what am I thinking?!”

“This is stupid,” Jaemin tiredly says. But he notices both of the boys are waiting for him to attempt to read Renjun’s mind. “Ugh fine!” 

He focuses on Renjun and tries to hear him. Nothing happens for a little until Jaemin is concentrating so hard he holds his breath. He is surprised when he starts to hear Renjun’s voice but sees no movement from Renjun’s mouth. “Y-you’re wondering about lunch. You’re hungry.” 

“I am! It’s true!” Renjun jumps around happily before his storage grumbles a little bit. 

“Okay let’s get you a change of clothes then we can get some food,” Jeno says as they make their way back to his home. After arriving and showing Renjun to a room of his own with the same amenities as Jaemin’s room Jeno gets some of the maids present in his house to make them some food and set it up in a private dining space. Renjun is not as shocked and amazed as Jaemin was by all of the things in Jeno’s house. He still remarks that everything is very nice and luxurious but lacks the same level of awestruck wonder that Jaemin experienced. 

“Well I have a bathroom in my house. It definitely is not as big or clean as that one but I know what a bathtub and toilet look like,” Renjun tells them when they ask abt the difference in reaction. 

“So why did you not know what those things were? Did you not have toilets?” Jeno asks with a face of genuine concern as he looks at Jaemin. 

“I’ve used a toilet! It’s just usually in a plastic stall, and doesn’t flush like this one does. The sanitation engineers come and empty it every week or so,” Jaemin protests. 

“I guess even the districts of the low end differ from each other a lot,” Renjun concludes while he takes a bite of his food. “What districts are you guys from?” Jeno asks.

“Well I’m from the familyless boys district,” Jaemin informs before turning to Renjun expecting to hear his reply as well. “I’m from the family district,” Renjun tells them.

Jaemin does need to look into Renjun’s eyes to see the pity and subtle guilt filled within them.  _ “I’m sorry,”  _ Jaemin hears Renjun think. Jaemin releases a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. “It’s fine. It’s not your fault. This is just the way things are.” 

“So where are we going next?” Jaemin asks, trying to shift discussion away from how his life just wasn’t as comfortable as theirs. “We have to find someone. I saw him in the dreams and in the memories of that soldier,” Jeno williningly moves from the rather tense topic before this one. 

“Do you have a name?” Renjun asks.

“Yeah. He’s a high ender and also the brother of a captain. I recognized him the second I saw him in the dream and was further confirmed by the soldier today,” Jeno tells them. “We need to find Zhong Chenle.” 

“Okay sounds easy enough,” Jaemin says rising from the table they are seated at as they have all finished their meals. “Let’s go get him.”

“It’s not that simple,” Jeno says as he also stands up. “I’ve only met him a handful of times but I can tell you Chenle isn’t like me.”

“How so?” Renjun asks finally standing to join them just so he doesn’t feel awkward as the only one sitting. 

“Well I’ve never really indulged in the high end lifestyle. I live with what’s given to me, I’ve never had servants before yesterday, and I don’t spend any of the currency my brother as the General makes unless absolutely necessary. Chenle on the other hand is known for living lavishly and spending without regard. I don’t think getting him to help will be easy.”

Jaemin and Renjun share an annoyed sigh. “Well we still have to try. We don’t have any other instructions or options at this point,” Jaemin tells them. “Where do we start?” 

“We need to go back to the light gate I think,” Renjun muses. “I saw in the dream two other boys by the light gate. But I was wearing these clothes instead of my normal low ender clothes.”

“Yeah the dream showed a street that was close to the light gate. I just assumed it would be from when we went to pick you up but the scene was different,” Jeno confirms Renjun’s suspension.

And with that the three boys make their way back to the light gate for the second time today. They walk around the light gate center hoping to catch a glimpse of Chenle. Again it’s mostly Jeno looking as he’s the only one that has both a name and a face for the person they are searching for. Renjun also looks out for any familiar faces he saw in the dream. But after waiting for a few hours they do not find anything. 

“The sun is going to set further than it was in the dream,” Renjun informs them. “Maybe we’re supposed to find them tomorrow.” 

“Hey Jaemin,” Renjun quietly says to him, indicating that this conversation doesn’t need to include Jeno. “Although, I’m not weirded out by the bathrooms or anything there is one thing here that kind of freaks me out.”

“And what is that?” Jaemin asks, as they walk out the entrance to the light gate terminal. Jeno is walking in front of them still keeping an eye out for Chenle.

“Well in the lower end the sky is always blocked by the high end,” Renjun starts. Jaemin nods to indicate that he understands what he’s getting at. “It’s my first time seeing it so close and unobstructed. Doesn’t it look weird? I don’t know what it is but it’s not what I expected.” 

“I hadn’t noticed,” Jaemin honestly replies. 

“Okay well he’s definitely not here,” Jeno declares. “Let’s just head home.” 

The three now feeling defeated decide they will just head back to Jeno’s house and hopefully have another dream making things clearer. As they walk down the street near the light gate Jaemin hears a voice that he can’t believe. He stops dead in his tracks. Jeno and Renjun turn as they hear Jaemin breathing loudly, trying to ensure he isn’t just hearing things in his mind. 

After confirming that it was not his abilities activating unintentionally Jaemin’s begins to frantically look around. “What’s wrong?” Jeno asks in an attempt to help. Jaemin doesn’t answer but continues searching with his eyes until they fall upon exactly who he hoped they would. He lets out a surprised gasp and tears well up in his eyes. He takes off running in the direction of the person he was searching for. Jeno and Renjun are soon to follow after him.

“Jisunggie!” Jaemin screams as he engulfs his young friend whom he was so worried about. Not after long does Jisung return the hug with the same bone crushing enthusiasm as Jaemin. “Hyung?! Hyung is that really you!?” Jisung asks unsure if this is actually happening. 

“Yes Jisunggie! Hyung kept his promise! I’m here! Everything is okay!” Jaemin says as the tears in his eyes finally fall down his cheeks. He can hear Jisung sniffling too as stray tears fall on his shoulder. “Wait what are you doing here?”

“I-” But before Jisung can finish that thought, panting is heard from behind them. As well as the sound of heavy footsteps. “Jaemin what’s going on?” Renjun asks. 

“Yeah do you mind telling me why you’re hugging my servant?” A new voice asks. Jaemin and Jisung finally separate from their embrace. Red puffy eyes and tear stained faces turn to look at the boy Jisung was walking with. 

“Well looks like we found him,” Jeno says. “Zhong Chenle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also I was uploading the last 2 chapters on a Sunday in my time zone and I kinda felt like that was a weird time so let me know if saturday (today in my time zone) is a better day??? i guess LOL
> 
> oh also we will be discovering who the voice is in the next chapter!!


	4. Chenle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so like i have covid so i apologize if my updates get a little more sparse :/
> 
> welcome back to neocity everyone!

“Zhong Chenle.”

“And why were you looking for me exactly Lee Jeno?” Chenle asks in an unnecessarily rude tone. 

Jaemin sucks in a quick breath with the hopes of activating his ability.  _ “Don’t mention anything about the dreams in front of him or Jisung. I don’t want to drag them further into this than we have to.”  _ Jaemin mentally says to Jeno and Renjun. He watches their reactions to see if they got the message. Based on the wide eyed looks they sent him, Jaemin’s guessing they heard it. Not that he particularly cares about Chenle at the moment but if Jisung is his servant and then pulling one of them into the issue is pulling them both. Jaemin will do anything to ensure Jisung isn’t going to be put in any more danger than necessary.

“Um we just need your help on something,” Jeno vaguely tells him.

“And what would that be exactly?” Chenle asks. “Also get your dirty servant away from mine. I don’t want any more germs on him, I haven’t even had the chance to get Jisung cleaned yet.” 

“We need your help getting something from the department of science and technology,” Renjun says. Chenle turns to him and gives him a disgusted look.

“Excuse me you’re not my servant so don’t address me low ender,” Chenle rudely says. At this point pretty much everyone seems to be rather annoyed with Chenle’s behavior. After holding his breath for just a second Jaemin can confirm that everyone is being a bit nicer out loud than they are in their heads. 

“Why exactly would I help you anyways?” Chenle asks. 

_ “I have an idea,”  _ Jaemin sends this thought to Jeno.  _ “He’s an egotist. Let’s use his hubris against him.”  _

Jaemin can see Jeno smirk slightly before he begins to speak. “No reason really. I just heard that you can take stuff from the department of science and technology whenever you want. But I guess they were wrong.”

“Who's they?” Chenle asks, his eyes squinted in suspicion. “Oh tons of people said that. They said  _ The Zhong Chenle,  _ brother of captain and head of the department of science and technology Qian Kun, was well respected and cool enough to go in and out of the department as he pleases. I heard even the Emperium thinks highly of you. But seeing you right now I highly doubt it. I guess I’ll just go tell everyone they were wrong,” Jeno plainly shrugs as he pretends to start walking away. 

“I can!” Chenle protests making Jeno stop in his tracks. 

“Prove it.”

As soon as they are just outside the department of science and technology a few minutes later Chenle asks, “so what exactly did you need me to get?” 

Jeno smiles and tells him, “a silver metallic box. It’s kind of reflective and smooth.”

“Yeah there’s no markings or anything on it and about 22cm in length,” Renjun adds. Chenle once again gives him a disgusted look but this time refrains from saying anything. Renjun simply rolls his eyes. “It should be in research lab 17-B.”

Chenle prepares to walk in but turns around just before approaching the guards. “Watch my servant for me while I’m in there okay?” Although phrased like a question it was more like a command. 

The four boys watch as Chenle walks right up to the guards and without hesitation they let him into the facility. Now all that’s left is to wait. 

“Okay Jisunggie now explain what you’re doing here,” Jaemin demands as they wait for Chenle to return. 

“I’m not really sure to be honest,” Jisung answers. “I guess I got hired to be a servant but I don’t even remember applying.” 

The three older boys exchange a look of confusion with each other before Jisung continues. “I woke up on a bench by the registry this morning with a registry notification device in my pocket. And the next thing I knew I was hired by Chenle and here I am.” 

“But Hyung what are you doing here? I thought they took you to the elevator,” Jisung asks Jaemin. 

“Well, they did,” Jaemin says. “But he saved me.” Jaemin points to Jeno who smiles sheepishly. “If he didn’t stop the soldiers from taking me to prison there’s a good chance I would have been sentenced to execution by now.” 

“Well then thank you Jeno Hyung for saving Jaemin hyung,” Jisung bows to Jeno to show his respect. “Hey! I took care of you for how long and you made him a hyung in less than 2 hours of knowing him? Do I look like a joke to you?” Jaemin says as he playfully hits Jisung with obviously no intent of hurting him. 

Jeno and Renjun laugh at the sight before noticing that Chenle is walking back towards them with the obelisk in hand. “See, I told you I could do it.” Chenle proudly states as he hands the artifact to Jeno. 

“I see that. I’m impressed,” Jeno says. 

Chenle smiles widely, feeling even happier to be praised. “So what did you even need this thing for?” 

“Uhh,” Renjun starts. “An art project.” Jaemin shoots him a look that says “is that really the first thing you could come up with?”. Renjun just shrugs in reply. 

“Lame,” Chenle shrugs it off having not really cared about the answer anyways. “Okay well bye Jeno. And Jeno’s servants. Jisung let’s go,” Chenle waves bye to the three boys as he starts walking away, not even waiting for Jisung.

“Bye Hyung, I’ll see you soon. Take care of yourself okay?” Jisung gives a small wave to the group before following after Chenle.

Jeno hands the obelisk to Renjun. “Okay put this in your pocket. Let’s head home for now I think we’ve done enough today.” 

The sun is just in the middle of setting as they walk. The golden light cascades over the white and light blue buildings creating mini sunsets in every window of every building. Jaemin and Renjun watch as the sky darkens slowly and the city lights begin to shine.

As they are walking back to Jeno’s house a hover car stops right next to them. A heeled boot steps out making a clicking sound upon making contact with the floor. “Jeno,” a commanding voice calls from the car. 

Jeno stops walking and turns with wide eyes to face the vehicle. A striking man in clothes that are a mix between extravagant brilliance and militaristic utility reveals himself from inside the car. He’s very handsome and seems to exude authority. 

“Hyung,” Jeno says with a slight bow. Jaemin and Renjun now realize who this must be, follow suit and bow as well. 

General Lee Taeyong, the most powerful man in Neocity other than the Emperium. Although they aren’t sure what their plan is they know that if anyone was a threat to their success Taeyong would surely be the biggest. 

“What are you doing out here so late?” Taeyong asks, although his tone is still stern the brotherly concern is still present. 

“I was just heading home now hyung,” Jeno tells him, obviously not wanting to prolong this conversation as it might put Jaemin and Renjun in a difficult situation. 

Taeyong quickly shifts his attention to the two low enders accompanying his brother. “I heard from the maid that you got some servants recently. Are these them?” 

Jeno nods his head, “yes this is Renjun and Jaemin.”

Taeyong looks over the two servant boys but stops and stares a little longer at Jaemin before turning back to Jeno. “What changed? You always said you didn’t want any servants.” 

Jeno visibly tenses a little at the question, “I got lonely.” Although Jaemin knows that Jeno said that to get out of telling his brother the truth, Jaemin can’t help but notice the way Jeno says it like it’s true.

The answer slightly shocks Jaemin for some reason. He unknowingly sucks in a breath and activates his ability. “ _ I’m so sorry Jeno-ya.”  _ Jaemin can hear Taeyong say in his head. But his outward facade does not crack and the unbothered face of the general remains. 

“I’ll have some people accompany you home. It’s too late to be walking around alone with servants you just met that might not be able to protect you,” Taeyong says as he faces the hover car and asks for two people to come out. “This is captain Suh Johnny and second captain Kim Jungwoo.”

One very tall and muscular man steps out of the hover car followed by a slightly shorter and younger man. “Please walk my brother and his servants back to our home safely.” 

“But Hyung why is this necessary? Neocity has always been safe,” Jeno asks his brother. 

Taeyong sits back in the hover vehicle, “Neocity isn’t as safe as it used to be.” 

And with that the hover car takes off back into the skies presumably heading to it’s originally intended location. The two captains that Taeyong left behind begin to escort the three young boys back home. 

To ease the awkward silence they are in Jeno greets the two as they are walking. “Hi captain Johnny, second captain Jungwoo, it’s nice to see you both again. Sorry to trouble you like this.”

The tall one, Johnny lets out a surprisingly joyful laugh, “it’s no problem Jeno-ya. You don’t live that far from here anyways.” Jungwoo tries to stifle a laugh himself before adding, “plus it gets us out of whatever the general was going to make us do anyways. So we should be thanking you.” 

  
  


The group of five laugh as they reach the building that Jeno and Taeyong call home. “Well here we. Take care of Jeno please.” Johnny says to Jaemin and Renjun as him and Jungwoo begins to leave. 

“We will!” Jaemin replies with a smile. The three go up the elevator with little spoken between them. All exhausted from the rollercoaster of a day they have had. They seemingly drag themselves into the penthouse apartment and say their good nights before going their separate ways to clean themselves before bed. 

Jaemin once again indulges in the bathroom facilities as he takes a bath and uses a real flushing toilet. He dresses in the high end lounge wear for sleeping just like the night before. He lays in bed feeling tired and part of him hoping there are no instructions given to him today so he can sleep in peace. 

But that hope is destroyed not too long after Jaemin falls asleep. 

_ “Jaemin you have been very successful so far,”  _ the voice compliments him.

“Successful at what though? Why are we doing all of this?” Jaemin asks. 

_ “You will understand soon. There are two more tasks to clear then all will make sense.” _

“Okay what is the next task?” Jaemin asks growing increasingly more impatient with the cryptic language the voice is choosing to use. 

_ “Find me.” _

“What?!” Jaemin exclaims. “How exactly am I supposed to do that? I don’t know what you look like or even your name! What’s with that by the way? How come the others see things and all I get is this?” 

_ “Um okay first of all shut up I don’t know,”  _ the voice retorts with the most plain language Jaemin has heard it speak in.  _ “Truthfully I don’t know why each dream is different or why they function the way they do. I didn’t choose this. And as for my name,”  _

_ “My name is Haechan.” _

Jaemin sighs, “okay Haechan. Where am I supposed to find you?”

_ “The others will know,”  _ is all the voice, or rather, Haechan tells him for now.

“Okay and one more thing before I wake up,” Jaemin interjects. “Are you the one that applied Jisung for a job?” 

_ “You’ll know more tomorrow.”  _ And just as every other night Jaemin wakes up gasping for air in the comfy bed he fell asleep in. It’s still very dark out and seemingly the middle of the night. And just as the other night he rolls out of bed and heads straight for Jeno’s room. He closes the door behind him as he enters and walks towards Jeno’s bed. 

But tonight he finds that Jeno is already awake. “How did it go?” Jeno asks him in the dark. The only light in the room comes from the window which is mostly covered by some blinds. “I have a name. Did yours finish long ago?” Jaemin asks.

“Yeah about an hour ago,” Jeno says as Jaemin sits himself on the edge of the bed. 

“Why are you still awake?” Jaemin inquires. Although the room is dark and it's hard to see, Jaemin can feel Jeno's eyes on him even if it's just his silhouette. 

“I thought you would come,” Jeno replies. Jaemin sucks in a breath and accidentally activates his abilities again.  _ “I hoped you would come.”  _

“Oh,” is all Jaemin can say in response. “Well, we should get some sleep. It seems like we will have a lot to do tomorrow.” As Jaemin moves to stand from the bed Jeno’s hand comes to clasp his wrist.  _ “Stay.”  _

Jaemin looks down at Jeno’s hand for a minute before moving back onto the bed. He finds his place next to Jeno under to covers again and lays on the pillow facing the other. Jeno faces him as well and they just stare at each other for a while. The silence isn’t awkward but both of them are afraid to break it, unsure of what they could really say to each other. 

“Did you mean what you said to your brother today?” Jaemin asks. They are in the same positions as last night. Closer than they need to be, but not close enough. 

“The part about getting lonely?” Jeno asks as he looks into Jaemin’s eyes. The closer proximity makes it easier even in the dim room to see each other. “Kind of. I’m all alone in this house. He’s always working, as the General he’s so busy I see him maybe once a week. And I don’t really have many friends because I’m pretty quiet and don’t care for socialite activities.”

“You don’t seem that quiet to me,” Jaemin says with a soft smile. Jeno smiles back before responding, “I don’t know why, but you’re different.” 

Jaemin can’t explain it either but he would be lying if he didn’t say he agreed. Jeno was different. Jaemin’s relationship with Jisung of mutual trust and care was built off of a couple of years of having to stick together to survive. But Jeno and him just seemed to click the second they met each other. 

“What about your parents? Where are they?” Jaemin asks. 

“I’ve never met them,” Jeno admits. “For as long as I can remember the only relative I’ve ever had is Taeyong. I guess if I was born in the low end I would probably be considered a familyless. We probably would have met a lot sooner.”

Jaemin imagines for a minute what it would have been like if Jeno lived in the low end with him and Jisung. If they had lived in the same encampment and spent everyday together trying to find food and ways to keep on living. Jaemin thinks maybe it would have been nice to have Jeno there with him this whole time. Maybe they could live together in the low end if things had been different. But at the same time Jaemin doesn’t wish for that, he doesn’t wish for Jeno to experience his life in the low end. He doesn’t want Jeno to struggle like that. Jaemin is content with knowing that Jeno has at least been taken care of here in the sense that he doesn't have to fight for his next meal. Jaemin wonders if maybe he himself had been born in the high end would they be friends then. He isn’t sure. 

“I’m glad we met now,” Jaemin tells him. Jaemin moves closer and wraps his arms around Jeno and leans his head on Jenos chest. “You don’t have to be lonely anymore Jeno.” 


	5. Jisung

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at the time of my posting this chapter it was Jisung's birthday yesterday so happy birthday to our maknae 🥺 🥳 🥰
> 
> welcome back to Neocity! Please enjoy your time here <3
> 
> I also wanted to say that this chapter is where things take a turn,,, like the use of powers and explaining them gets deeper and is more indicative of how it will be used throughout the rest of the story.

“Um, I hate to bother you guys but we have a visitor,” the voice of Renjun can be heard rousing Jaemin from sleep. As he opens his eyes Jaemin can see the sun is peeking in through the blinds and the light in the room has been turned on. Jaemin also finds that his head is still on Jeno’s chest and assumes they must have fallen asleep in this position. Their limbs are tangled together and Jaemin can feel the vibrations in Jeno’s chest as the other groans. 

“Who is it?” Jeno groggily asks, his voice still rough from sleep. 

“Zhong Chenle,” Renjun tells them. “And he seems kind of irritated. He’s asking where his servant is.”

Jaemin’s tiredness now gone in an instant sits up in bed, “Jisung? He lost Jisung?”

Renjun starts to walk out the bedroom door, “Just come see for yourself.” 

Jaemin and Jeno follow Renjun out of the room and into the living room. There they find a very stressed and confused Chenle pacing around the sofa. As they file into the room he turns to look at them and asks. “Wait he’s not with you?” 

“Why would he be with us? How would he even know where we are?” Jaemin asks. “Why did you come here? And how did you lose Jisunggie?!” Jaemin is not doing much to hide his frustration with the youngest among them at the moment. Jisung is his priority right now. 

“I don’t know!” Chenle retorts. “I don’t know what has been happening the last few days. My maids have just been doing things for me that apparently I told them in the middle of the night. But I don’t remember waking up and telling them anything!”

Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin share a look of realization with each other as they turn back to Chenle. “Do you wake up out of breath? Do you remember any of the things you say?” Renjun asks. 

“No and no,” Chenle shoots back. “Why do you sound like you know what’s going on? Does someone mind explaining?” 

“Before we do that,” Jeno interrupts. “I think we should go get Jisung first.”

Jaemin turns to him with hopeful eyes, “You know where he is?” Jeno nods in return and Renjun nods as well. “He’s at a park,” Renjun tells them.

“It’s a park not too far from here. Let’s go now and figure this all out later,” Jeno says as he heads back to his bedroom to change. Jaemin and Renjun do the same. They all meet back in the living room once they're ready to go. 

“So why did you come to Jeno’s house,” Renjun asks Chenle as they are walking on the street. 

Chenle shrugs, “My maid told me that I asked her to bring me here last night and that Jisung had another errand to run that he left before I woke up. But I don’t remember giving him anything to do.” Chenle explains to them. “Now how do you two know he is at this park?” 

“We saw it in a dream,” Jeno tells him. Jaemin and Renjun nod their heads as to agree with the honestly absurd statement that Jeno just made. 

Chenle looks between the three other boys before saying, “You guys are crazy.” 

“We might be,” Jaemin tells him. “But can you think about your sleep last night and the words you said to your maid for me really quick?” He then quickly draws in a breath and holds it. 

“Why? I already told you that I don’t remember what I said,” Chenle begins to protest.  _ “There was a stranger in my mind.” _ Jaemin releases the breath he was holding and looks at Chenle curiously. 

“Stranger?” Jaemin asks. “Your sleep last night wasn’t peaceful.” Jaemin then hears Jeno take a breath in and watches as he stares intently at Chenle. Chenle stares at Jaemin with a frightened and confused look on his face.

“How did you-” Chenle doesn’t even get to finish his thought before Jeno interrupts. “You felt like you weren’t alone. You didn’t see anything I think but you felt a presence other than your own in your sleep.” 

“What the hell is going on?!” Chenle yells. 

Before he can get an answer they arrive at the park and Renjun points out an individual. “That’s Jisung right?” All heads turn to face a slender young man standing off to the left side of the park. It is most certainly Jisung. They all jog over to Jisung and find that although he is standing his eyes are closed. His body turns to face them as they approach. 

Just as they reach him Jisung’s eye open and he almost falls to the ground. “W-what? How did I get here?” He asks as the others huddle around him. 

“I don’t know Jisunggie but it's okay,” Jaemin tries to comfort him. 

“Will someone please explain what’s going on now?” Chenle demands looking at the three oldest. “Well, it’s hard to explain but someone is reaching out to us through our minds while we sleep. And I think you’re somehow a part of it too.” Renjun tells him. 

“How is that possible?” Jisung asks. “We don’t know that either but, we think it’s some sort of psychic connection.” Jaemin replies.

“Psychic!?” Chenle exclaims. “You’re making it up!”

Jaemin holds his breath and thinks the words,  _ “No we’re not,” _ and sends it to Chenle and Jisung. 

The two youngest boys look in shock at Jaemin having just heard his voice in their heads. Chenle is simply shocked and left speechless, but Jisung visibly starts to panic. “Hyung?! Hyung that was just like the last time I heard your voice in my head!” Jisung tells him. 

“What do you mean?” Jaemin asks him. “Two nights ago I heard you say, Jisunggie, hyung is okay. I hope you’re okay. I will keep my promise. It was in my sleep but I heard it.” 

“I did! That was me!” Jaemin hugs Jisung, overjoyed by the fact that his psychic message got through. “But what does this have to do with us?” Jisung asks regarding his and Chenle’s place in all of this. 

“We don’t know,” Renjun tells him. “We just do what the dream tells us. My dream last night showed me you and one of the captains we met last night here in this park.” 

“I saw that too. It was Johnny,” Jeno tells them. “He’s here but I don’t know what we are supposed to say to him.”

Chenle is still frozen speechless trying to come to terms with the fact that he just heard someone speak in his mind. Jeno puts his hand on Chenle’s shoulder and says “calm down,”. Chenle’s shoulders slump as he takes a deep breath. “Okay so let’s find Johnny. He’s pretty tall so he should be hard to miss.” Jeno says.

And sure as that they do find Johnny. He is walking with two other captains. “Those are Yuta and Taeil. They’re also captains.” Jeno informs them. 

“So what do we do?” Jaemin asks. 

“You’re supposed to talk to them,” Renjun tells him. “I saw you go up to them and they help you.” 

“But what do I say?” Jaemin asks. Just going up and asking them for help with something he does not really know about doesn’t seem to make any sense. 

“Um, you say,” Jeno thinks back to his dream. “Ugh it wasn’t clear but you tell them you’re looking for… something. I don’t know what word comes after but it was just one word.” 

Jaemin thinks back to his dream before realizing what he needs to do. He starts to walk towards Johnny and the other captains without saying anything to his friends. He walks right up to Johnny in the middle of the park.

“Oh aren’t you Jeno’s servant?” Johnny asks. But instead of answering Johnny’s question Jaemin replies, “I’m looking for Haechan.”

Johnny, Taeil, and Yuta all stand up straight and their eyes glow. “We will take you to Haechan,” The three captains say in unison. Then their eyes stop glowing and they look at Jaemin. “Get your friends and we can take you now,” Johnny casually tells him. 

Jaemin waves the rest of the boys over so they can go with Johnny. “Hello Jeno, hello Chenle.” Johnny greets them. “You must be the others Haechan told us to bring to him.” 

“What exactly did you say to them?” Jeno whispers to Jaemin. The group starts walking towards a hover vehicle that Johnny indicates they will be taking. Jaemin holds his breath so he can respond in his mind. 

_ “I told them we were looking for Haechan,”  _ Jaemin communicates to the group of boys.

_ “And who is that?”  _ Renjun thinks. 

_ “He’s the voice.”  _

Johnny drives them to an area of the city that both Jeno and Chenle recognize as the government sector of the city. The building they arrive at is on the outskirts and looks mostly residential. Johnny, Yuta, and Taeil lead the group of five boys out of the hover vehicle parking structure and up through the elevator. 

“What is this place?” Jisung asks. 

“Well this is where we live,” Yuta states matter of factly.

“Who’s we?” Renjun asks this time. 

“Well all the captains of course.” Johnny informs them. “All the captains and government officials live in this building or one nearby with the exception of General Taeyong.”

They walk down a hallway and come to a stop in front of a door. Johnny enters a passcode before he opens it.

“So why are we here?” inquires Jaemin. 

“Jaemin isn’t it obvious by now?” a voice from inside the room asks. Not just any voice but rather the voice. 

They all file into the door. On the other side is a well sized luxury apartment with once again minimal furnishing and color scheme. Jaemin wonders if all the apartments in the high end look like this. The only difference is that this place is far messier than Jeno’s house because there doesn’t seem to be any maids present. 

Johnny, Yuta, and Taeil’s eyes glow one more time. Once they stop glowing the three of them stagger a little and look around at their surroundings. “What? How did we get here?” Yuta asks. 

“Haechan? What’s happening?” Johnny asks him. “Jeno? Chenle? What are you doing here?” 

Before Johnny or the others can ask anymore questions Haechan walks up to them and says, “Thank you for your help. Now I command you to please leave and forget you ever saw anything here. Return to your regularly scheduled duties for today.” 

Their eyes glow one more time and they speak in unison just as they did in the park. “We will forget we saw anything here and return to work.” The three captains leave the room and close the door behind them as they exit. 

Renjun, Jeno, Jisung, Chenle, and Jaemin stare at Haechan in disbelief. 

“H-how did you do that?” Chenle stammers out. 

“That’s my psychic power,” Haechan nonchalantly shrugs.

“Your psychic power is mind control?” Jeno asks. “Is that how you got us all to help you?” 

“Yes and no,” Haechan replies. “I did try to use my power on you to make you follow my instructions but since I couldn’t see your eyes it normally wouldn’t work. But since we were connected like that I guess it had a different effect.” 

Jaemin nods his head, “that’s why we were all inclined to follow but we weren’t forced.” Haechan nods in agreement. Jaemin takes a seat on the white rectangular couch there in the living room. “So does your power include visiting us in our dreams?” 

“You see that’s where I don’t know either,” Haechan admits. The rest of the boys follow Jaemin and take a seat as this is obviously going to be a long discussion. “I’ve only ever had the power to command. I don’t know where the dreams came from.”

“You seem to have a much better grasp of psychic abilities than the rest of us,” Jeno tells him. “How do you have all those images of the future? Does your power include seeing into the future?”

“No. I received those visions of the future from someone else. That is his ability,” Haechan answers. “But I shared them with those of you that the dreams would allow.” 

“Will we meet this other psychic future seer? I feel like that might be a useful ability to have with us,” Jaemin questions. Truthfully Jaemin might want the future seer for more selfish purposes. He just wants to know if they all end up okay.

“Sorry, Yangyang can’t help us here,” Haechan says. “He’s tied up in his own issues with Neocity.” 

“So you, Jaemin, and Jeno all have psychic powers? What about the rest of us?” Renjun asks.

“Oh no, you all have psychic powers. That I’m sure of,” Haechan confidently tells them. “I don’t know exactly what they all are but I know you all have them.” 

“Okay so I can talk to people with my mind and read other people’s thoughts,” Jaemin says. “But it’s only when I hold my breath.”

“That’s telepathy,” Haechan informs them. “And all power comes with limitations.” 

“I can see memories and sense emotions as well as alter emotions,” Jeno says. “But I have to hold my breath also. And to alter emotions I have to be in physical contact.” 

“So when you touch people and tell them to calm down,” Jaemin says as he remembers the times that Jeno did that to him and Chenle. 

“Jeno you’re an empath!” Haechan cheers. “Your psychic ability deals with emotions. That’s why your dreams looked and felt like that. You could only see fleeting scenes because you were seeing my memories of the vision rather than the vision itself. Empaths can also share memories whether it be their own or memories from other people.”

“That means your dreams were just words because that’s how your powers work Jaemin,” Haechan points out. 

“So what about me?” Renjun asks. “I only saw things. No sounds or words.” 

“I think you have another form of telepathy,” Haechan looks closer at Renjun. “Try holding your breath and looking into my mind.” Haechan then walks to the front door and turns away from Renjun so his back is facing him. 

Renjun does as he’s told and holds his breath. He focuses on Haechan and sees the passcode being typed into the front door. “2000,” Renjun says. “That’s the passcode to your front door.” 

“Excellent!” Haechan tells him as he walks back over to the couch. “Now try to make me see something.” 

In a similar fashion Renjun holds his breath and focuses on showing Haechan something in his mind. “Your home. These people are your parents.” Haechan says as if he is looking at something that the rest of the boys cannot see. 

“Yeah that’s right!” Renjun cheers. “Wow this is cool.”

“Me next! Me next!” Chenle says. He puffs his face up and turns really red trying to hold his breath, but nothing happens.

“I don’t think yours works like that,” Jaemin interjects, trying to stop the boy from passing out. “All of us woke up from our dreams out of breath. But you never did.”

“Try closing your eyes once and focusing on me when you open them again,” Haechan tells him. Chenle does just that, he blinks once and focuses on Haechan.

“Did it work?” Haechan asks. “I don’t think it did-” Renjun tries to say before Haechan starts laughing. 

“Oh my god it did work!” Haechan says while wiggling his arms about. “I can’t make him walk though.”

“Wait Chenle are you inside Haechan’s body?” Jeno asks. 

“No, I’m in my own body, I can just make him say stuff and move his arms a little,” just as Chenle says that Haechan seems to come to. “Ew that felt weird.” 

“What? Why did it stop?” Chenle disappointedly asks. 

“You blinked,” Haechan points out. “All powers have their limits, remember? Your power is being able to take over someone’s body on a very minor level. You split your consciousness and took over my body. Mostly speaking it seems. That’s probably why my messages to you came in the form of sleep talking.” 

“Okay Jisung what can you do? His visits made you sleep walk,” Jaemin asks. 

Jisung tries to blink really hard a couple of times. “Well I don’t really know. I never woke up out of breath but blinking doesn’t seem to do anything.”

“I think your power has a little more to it than that,” Haechan surmises. “When I would visit you for a dream it’s like there was nothing there. Your body was empty. That’s why I could get it to walk and do things, my powers of command worked exceptionally well on an empty vessel.” 

“Empty vessel?” Jisung confusedly asks. “What does that mean?” 

“I think you can astral project,” Haechan guesses. “What does  _ that _ mean?” Jisung questions. “It means you can leave your body.” 

“Well how do I activate it?” Jisung asks.

“I have no idea,” Haechan tells him. Jisung slumps on the couch feeling kind of left out that he is the only one without an understanding of his power. Jaemin just pats his head to comfort him.

“So what exactly is the last task to clear?” Jaemin asks as he turns to face Haechan. 

“The last task is to save Mark.”

“Who the hell is Mark?” Renjun asks. 

“He’s the second in command of all of Neocity.” Jeno tells them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say sorry that this chapter was late, I still have covid and it really harshly impacting me and my family at the moment 
> 
> but I will try to continue to update this fic bc there's still so much of this story that i want to tell


	6. Haechan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just tested Negative for covid im so happiiii
> 
> Welcome back to Neocity everyone! Please enjoy your time here!

“So what exactly is the last task to clear?” Jaemin asks as he turns to face Haechan.

“The last task is to save Mark,” Haechan reveals. 

“Who the hell is Mark?” Renjun asks. “He’s the second in command of all of Neocity.” Jeno tells them. The others sit there stunned for a moment before freaking out.

“Why do we need to save him?” Jaemin yells. 

“If he’s second in command doesn’t that make him the second most dangerous man in Neocity?” Renjun asks. 

“Mark Lee does not need our saving!” Chenle shouts. The room goes silent as they curiously look at Chenle who looks very frustrated. “Why would he? He’s the second most powerful man in Neocity. He’s rich, he’s untouchable.” 

“That may be true,” Haechan says. “But he’s being controlled. Regardless if he lives a good life or not, we need to release him from their control.” 

“Who exactly is controlling him?” Jaemin asks. 

“The Emperium.” 

Jeno and Chenle gasp as if Haechan just said the unspeakable. “How do you expect us to defeat them?” Chenle asks. 

“Would someone mind telling us what the Emperium is?” Jisung asks. 

Jeno and Chenle look at him like he just said something crazy. “You don’t know who the Emperium is?” Jeno asks. 

“Sorry no,” Jaemin is the one to answer. “I don’t think that’s low ender common knowledge. Renjun do you know.” Renjun shrugs and shakes his head, “Nope.” 

“Oh my god!” Chenle starts. “The Emperium are the rulers of Neocity! They’re the only reason Neocity exists! They built it hundreds of years ago to protect us from the outside world!”

“What’s in the outside world?” Jaemin asks. “Neocity is the last standing human strong hold. It’s said that the only thing outside the walls is desert and death.” Haechan informs them. 

“I’ve always thought there are monsters,” Chenle says, although it might sound like a joke Chenle was being entirely serious. “That’s besides the point,” Jeno interrupts. 

“What matters is the Emperium is the strongest in all of Neocity,” Jeno concludes.

“But I thought your brother was the strongest?” Jaemin asks Jeno.

“So the Emperium are the ones that gave Taeyong his enhancements to his powers and all the captains below him,” Haechan explains. “Wait wait! The captains have powers too?” Renjun asks.

“Yes Taeyong and all the captains have what are called enhancements. If they did not have a pre-existing power then they were just given extra durability, speed, and strength that is a little more than any human could achieve in their prime. And if they already had a power like me, Mark, or Taeyong they also amplified our powers. And we also got the standard enhancements.” 

“So you’re super strong and fast?” Jisung asks. “No. No captains are  _ super _ strong or fast. We’re just stronger and faster than you.” Haechan corrects him. 

“How did they enhance your power?” Jaemin asks. 

“They extended my limits,” Haechan answers. “Before my powers were limited to having 5 active commands at a time and they could only last for 24 hours. Now I can give about 15 active commands at once and they will last up to 72 hours if need be. Also before I needed to make direct eye contact with someone to give them a command, now I just have to see their eyes, they don’t need to see mine.”

“Wow I want an enhancement!” Chenle says. Haechan turns to him with a deep frown carved into his face. “No you don’t. Everything comes with a cost. If they give you power they take your freedom.”

The boys sit in uncomfortable silence for a moment in the face of Haechan’s gravely serious tone. “But you seem fine,” Jisung chimes in.

“I used to be under their control,” Haechan sighs. “For a long time actually. But I started to notice cracks in the mental programming they put in my head. I only broke free because I used my command on myself. I looked in the mirror and commanded myself to break free.”

Once again the group is rendered silent by Haechan’s truth. 

  
  


“Why can’t you just command Mark to break free?” Jaemin asks. “Mark is much stronger than me, so they put more programming in his mind. I tried to command him to break free. It didn’t work. And once they discovered what I had attempted they separated us, until the Emperium come to reimplement programming into my mind.” 

“This is all getting to be a little much,” Renjun says. “If you can’t break it then how can we?”

Haechan’s head perks up at the question, “oh my gosh Renjun you’re a genius I totally forgot! Do you have the obelisk?” Haechan holds out his hand expectantly.

Renjun fishes the large rectangular object out of a big pocket in his jacket. He hands it to Haechan who examines it closely. “Apparently this thing is supposed to be able to free people of the Emperium’s control.” 

“So just to be clear, the Emperium’s control and the programming or whatever are like technology?” Jisung asks, his voice sounding like he is totally lost. 

“No Jisung, the Emperium’s control is psychic. Just a completely different level of power,” Haechan clarifies. A round of “ohh''s and other sounds of realization makes it way around the room. 

“Why do you want to save this Mark so bad?” Jaemin asks, as he waits for the answer he sucks in a breath to activate his power. 

“Were close. And he’s really strong. I don’t want to leave his power in the Emperium’s hands if there’s anything I can do about it,” Haechan rambles as he blushes a little bit. “You’re lying.” Jaemin states with a smirk on his face.

“Well maybe not entirely, but you have another reason,” Jaemin smirks. “He was your boyfriend.” 

Haechan’s face flushes a full red now. He runs the back of his neck shyly. “Okay maybe he was but he’s still too powerful to leave in the hands of the Emperium. And I thought if you knew the whole truth you wouldn’t help me.”

“You’ve got that right,” Renjun snorts. “Yeah this sounds kind of risky just for one person Haechan,” Chenle chimes in. 

“So this was never about saving Neocity like you said in the dream was it?” Jaemin asks, he’s the only one that Haechan could actually talk to in the dreams so it’s likely that Haechan only told that to Jaemin.

“No, I’m sorry,” Haechan admits, clearly ashamed of his cover story. “I just really need your help. I can’t do this alone.” 

The room fills with silence of uncertainty. Jaemin looks at Chenle, Jisung, and Renjun. He uses his ability to read their minds and hear their discouragement. But he looks to Jeno and he hears one sentence in the other’s mind.  _ “I get it.” _

Jaemin considers his options in this situation. If he really wanted, him and Jisung could go back to the low end right now and return to their lives. It would probably be even easier than before with his new found telepathy. But then he would be leaving Haechan out to fight this whole city on his own? That doesn’t sound right to him. And would he be able to leave Jeno behind?

“So will you guys still help me?” Haechan asks like he’s scared to know the answer. No one answers him for a moment. Jaemin watches the others as they all look between each other as if waiting to see who will deny him first. It’s not easy to turn down someone in need. 

“I’m in.”

It’s Jaemin that responds. “You will?!” Haechan happily asks. Jaemin nods his head and smiles back. He wraps one arm around Jisung and gives him a squeeze. 

“I know that if it was someone I love that needed me I would want help too,” Jaemin looks over at Jeno who now also has a warm smile spread across his face. 

“I’ll help too,” Jeno says. 

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Haechan screams as he wraps both Jeno and Jaemin in a tight hug. “And for the rest of you?”

“It’s not like I have anything else to do,” Renjun says as he rolls his eyes but resolves to help anyways. “If Jaemin hyung is going to help then I’ll help too,” Jisung says.

All eyes turn to the last remaining person in the room to give his verdict. Chenle groans at all the expectant and pleading eyes peer at him waiting for an answer. “Ugh fine. I’m in. But if it comes down to life or death I’m leaving you losers in a heartbeat.”

“Okay let’s figure out how this obelisk works!” Haechan yells as they all cheer. “Wait,” Jaemin interrupts, as he thinks back to the first time he saw the obelisk. “Didn't that thing have a tracker on it the last time I had it?”

Haechan’s eyes grow wide, “everyone get out! We need to leave! It's been in one place for too long!” Haechan says as he picks up the obelisk and makes a b line for the door. 

“Wait but I had it all night at Jeno’s house,” Renjun says. “All tracking devices can’t transmit in my building,” Jeno shrugs. “Perks of being the General’s little brother.”

Haechan sticks his head out the door but immediately comes back in and shuts the door. He turns to face the others and his facial expression does not indicate anything good. “They’re already here,” he says.

“What do we do?” Jisung asks as he stands up from the couch. 

“You and Chenle go hide,” Jaemin tells him. 

“But I don’t want to hide!” Chenle protests. 

“You protect Jisung, he doesn’t know how to use his powers. So both of you hide now. Well let you know when it’s safe to come out,” Jaemin sternly tells him. 

With no further protest Jisung and Chenle go into Haechan’s bedroom and shut the door. Haechan, Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun remain in the living room. “We need a plan,” Jaemin says.

“Can you command all of them to leave?” Jeno asks Haechan. Haechan shakes his head, “there’s too many of them. I counted 22.”

“Okay so we need to get less than 15 of them in here at a time,” Renjun says. 

Haechan nods his head, “I have an idea! But it’s going to take all four of us if we want a shot at pulling it off.” 

Moments later the soldiers that Haechan saw in the hallway kick the front door down only to find an empty living room. They pause as they look around the empty space. 

_ “I don’t know how long I can keep this up,”  _ Renjun says I’m his mind. He’s using his powers to make all of the soldiers see an empty room when in fact the four of them are standing in front of the soldiers.

_ “Don’t worry you don’t need to keep it up for that long,”  _ Haechan thinks.  _ “Jaemin, nice job on linking all of us telepathically,”  _ Jaemin just nods in response. 

_ “Okay Jeno go to those four by the door and alter their emotions to fear,”  _ Jeno nods to Haechan’s direction before quickly walking over to the indicated four soldiers. Renjun’s power is still active so none of the guards see Jeno. 

Jeno lightly touches each soldier and embeds the emotion of fear in them. He nods to the others that it’s done. _ “Okay Jaemin. Play some mind games.”  _ Haechan tells him. 

Jaemin takes a deep breath before reactivating his power and yelling into the minds of the four men Jeno affected,  _ “GET OUT!” _

The four men scream and run out of the apartment door. All the soldiers turn towards the door that the men had run out scared of. With the second of their attention being elsewhere, Renjun has to take a breath so his power deactivates making them visible for just a moment before he makes them unable to be seen again. 

_ “Three more then we’ll be done,”  _ Haechan assures them. 

Jeno touches three more soldiers and embeds the emotion of boredom in them. Jaemin then whispers in their minds,  _ “There’s obviously nothing here. You should check the perimeter.”  _

“Sir there’s nothing here, I will go check the perimeter to make sure they didn’t escape another way,” says one of the soldiers to the commanding officer. The three that Jeno made bored all leave the room together. 

_ “Jeno, make the one with the tracking device sleep,”  _ Haechan orders him.

_ “I can do that?”  _ Jeno wonders as he touches the man and he falls onto the floor with a loud thud. 

_ “Renjun, drop the illusion!” _ Haechan tells him. As soon as the boys become visible to the soldiers Haechan activates his power. The eyes of all the men excluding the one knocked out on the ground glow as they all freeze in their movements. “I command you to leave now and believe that you found nothing here.”

“I will leave because I found nothing here,” the 14 soldiers all say in unison as they all file out of the room in an orderly fashion. Haechan smiles triumphantly. 

“Okay let’s reprogram the scanner and send them on a wild goose chase,” Haechan says. The other three boys are still catching their breath from using their powers so much in one go. Haechan picks up the tracking device and changes the tracking signal to something random. He puts the scanner back in the unconscious soldier's hand before turning to Jeno. 

“Okay wake him up,” Haechan requests. Jeno squats down and touches the man’s forehead and wills him to wake up. The soldier wakes up with a start and flails about panicking at how his whole team is gone and he’s now surrounded. Haechan quickly over powers the man and holds him down, “Jeno calm him down!” Jeno touches the man again and he instantly relaxes. 

“I command you to leave now and believe you saw nothing here,” Haechan commands him. As usual the man's eyes glow and he repeats his command before getting up and leaving peacefully. 

Renjun looks at Haechan clearly impressed, “You overpowered him pretty easily.” he comments. 

“I’m enhanced, remember?” Haechan smirks. He goes and knocks on the door to the bedroom and lets the other two boys know that the situation has been taken care of and it's now safe to come out. 

“That was fast,” Chenle casually says as he enters the living room. “I heard a body fall, are you all okay?” Jisung asks as he runs over to check Jaemin and make sure he isn’t hurt.

Jaemin cooes at how cute Jisung is acting, “Hyung is fine Jisunggie. That was the bad guys hitting the floor not us.” Jaemin tells him in a baby voice.

“Thanks to Haechan’s good strategy that we made it through that,” Jaemin smiles and gives Haechan a thumbs up. 

“I guess you could say we are a dream team, huh?” Haechan says. His only response is groans and eye rolls from the others. 

“So what now?” Chenle asks. 

“We need to figure out how the obelisk works,” Haechan says. “Let’s go to my place instead. At least if they figure out how to track us again it’ll be in a place that won’t work,” Jeno tells them. 

Figuring that this is a good plan they leave Haechan’s government issued apartment. Luckily Haechan has a hover vehicle of his own so they don’t have to walk all the way back to Jeno’s house. But Haechan’s hover car is certainly not built to hold more than 4 people so fitting 6 was a tight squeeze to say the least. 

They make it back to Jeno’s house and are all seated in the living room. Jeno sends the staff home after they prepare some food for them. They decide it’s best to not have the staff around in case any of them try to report their activities. 

“How exactly is this supposed to free someone from psychic control?” Jisung asks as he examines the box. “Let me see it,” Chenle says as he tries to grab it out of Jisung’s hand. But Jisung does not let go and the two start trying to pull it from each other. 

“Will you two cut it out!” Jaemin says as he reaches to intervene. As he touches the obelisk, the top of it opens and a bright light comes out of it. Jisung, Chenle, and Jaemin all let go of the obelisk in surprise. It drops to the floor and begins playing a message. 

_ “Greetings. If you’re seeing this that means that three or more of you have gathered together. My name is Luhan. I created the obelisk to free anyone of sinister psychic domination. I myself am a powerful psychic. This obelisk can only be activated by the 7 foretold in my dream. All 7 of you together have what amounts to the equal amount of power that I have. If all of you touch the obelisk at the same time. It’s your destiny to be together. Cease psychic control. Neocity is a dangerous place. Only you seven can save it. Avoid the Emperium at all costs. They are not your battle to fight. Good Luck and I’ll see you on the other side.”  _

With that the transmission ends. All the boys look at the obelisk in silence as they process what just happened. “What the hell was that?” Renjun asks. 

“Well I guess we know how it works now,” Chenle shrugs. “An instruction manual would have been nice, but that works too.” 

“Okay so we know how it works,” Renjun says. “Let’s go get this Mark guy.” 

“It’s not that simple,” Haechan interjects. “As much as I would love to go to Mark right now. It’s not going to be as easy getting to him as it was to me. I suggest we rest for tonight and regroup. After all the strength these three used today. If we want to succeed tomorrow we’re going to need to be ready.”

“You can all stay here tonight. I doubt my brother is coming back here tonight. He rarely does,” Jeno says. They all agree to this plan and luckily in Jeno’s rich penthouse apartment there are more than enough rooms for each of them. Just as they are about to head out of the living room they hear the front door open. Seeing as all the staff has been sent away there is only one person it can be. 

“Jeno-ya! Why was there no maid at the front door? Did you send them home?” General Taeyong calls through the house. His footsteps can be heard getting closer to the living room. Taeyong steps into the living room to find just Jeno, Renjun, and Jaemin sitting on the couch. No one else. 

“Why did you send away all the help?” Taeyong asks as he places his hands on his hips. The Taeyong here in the confines of their home is decidedly more casual than the one Jaemin remembers meeting on the street. 

Jeno nods his head, “I didn’t need their services for the rest of the day. How was I supposed to know you would be coming home?” Jeno asks. 

Taeyong heaves a sign as he looks at the ground. Guilt once again obvious in his mannerisms. Jaemin sucks in a breath to activate his powers. “What did you need here hyung?” Jeno asks.

“I forgot a file I need. I’m just picking it up before returning to work,” Taeyong says. Jaemin hears his thoughts,  _ “I wish I could stay and keep you company little brother but I need to go.”  _

Just as Jaemin is about to release his breath and stop listening Taeyong thinks something that alarms Jaemin.  _ “Something’s off in here.”  _

_ “He’s suspicious,”  _ Jaemin sends to Jeno and Renjun. 

“Jeno, is there anyone else here?” Taeyong asks as his eyes dart around the room. Taeyong starts to slowly walk around the room as he analytically looks for one thing that is out of place. 

Jeno stands up to go to his brother, “No hyung it’s just us three,” he reaches his arm to touch Taeyong. “Don’t you have to  _ hurry _ back to work.” Jeno embeds a sense of urgency in his brother. Jaemin reads Taeyong’s mind and finds that he is no longer intent on finding what was wrong in this room.

“You’re right, I’ll be off now,” Taeyong says as he turns to leave. “Be careful and take care of yourself Jeno-ya. You two servants make sure he’s taken care of.” And with that they hear the front door slam closed. Renjun gasps for air as his power deactivates revealing Jisung, Chenle, and Haechan to be crouching behind the couch. 

“Quick thinking Renjun,” Haechan compliments as he sits down on the couch. 

“Hey Jeno,” Jaemin turns to face Jeno. “You’re brother is the strongest right? What exactly are his abilities?” 

“He has the standard enhancements of speed, strength, and durability. But his natural power that he already had was heightened sense, unbeatable precision and accuracy, and extreme flexibility. He is proficient with many weapons but he specializes in using two twin daggers. All of these reasons plus his signature silver hair are why he is called-”

“The white snake of Neocity. The most dangerous man alive.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What did you think? How are the use of powers treating you?? Are you enjoying the story? 
> 
> I have actually already finished this part of the story and most of the next part! It won't be long now before I finish the whole series. It's going to be 4 parts. 
> 
> Plz stay safe out there, wash your hands, wear a mask, and social distance.


	7. Mark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is extraaaaa longgg!! bc its the finale of this work!! are you excited? I am. This is not the end of the story but more so a break between the arches. 
> 
> Welcome back to Neocity! Please enjoy your time here!

Jaemin lies awake in bed. They all just decided to go to sleep after nearly being caught by Taeyong. As he has every other night, Jaemin relishes his time in the bathtub, but this time he’s afraid it might be his last. If they succeed tomorrow Jaemin doesn’t know what comes next. He doesn’t know if he gets to stay here, in the high end, being Jeno’s servant. Or if he has to go home, back to the life of struggle that he lived before. So for tonight he enjoys his time in the small boat. To Jaemin’s amusement, Chenle said Jisung had a similar reaction to the bathroom amenities as he did. 

But Jaemin still remains awake in bed. Maybe it's the nerves and anxiousness for tomorrow's events. Maybe it’s the uncertainty of how this will affect his life. He doesn’t know. But there is something he does know and that is that he doesn't want to be alone right now. 

Jaemin gets out of the comfortable bed that he has not truly spent an entire night in since he got here and makes his way to the hallway. He looks over the doors, each leading to the bedroom of a different member of their little team. “Maybe Jisung is asleep by now,” Jaemin thinks to himself. It’s just an excuse. He already knows which room he wants to enter.

Just like every night before, Jaemin pushes the door to Jeno’s bedroom open quietly. Once again the room is dimly lit by the city lights escaping through the blinds over the window. He makes his way over to Jeno’s bed. Without a single hesitation he climbs into the bed and takes his usual spot next to Jeno. He faces Jeno’s back and assumes the other is already asleep as well. Regardless Jaemin feels comforted knowing he is not alone for the night and enjoys the shared warmth of the blanket over them. 

Just as Jaemin is about to shut his eyes, Jeno rolls over startling Jaemin. Jeno’s arm comes around the back of Jaemin and pulls him in closer. “Couldn’t sleep?” Jeno asks in a hushed sleepy voice. Their faces just inches apart. 

“Yeah,” Jaemin answers. “I’m sorry if I woke you.” 

Although Jaemin can hardly see it, Jeno shakes his head a little. “It’s fine. Is everything alright?” Jeno sincerely asks. Jaemin feels his face heat up a little at the thought of Jeno caring about him and his well being. He does his best to hold Jeno a little closer as they lay under the covers. 

“I don’t know,” Jaemin truthfully answers. “I guess I’m a little nervous for tomorrow.” 

“Me too.” 

“Jeno, what comes next ya know? If we succeed do we go our separate ways? If we fail what will the consequences be? There’s a lot at stake here. Not just my safety, but Jisung and yours and everyone’s. I’m just not sure.” Jaemin admits. Jeno hugs him a little tighter in an attempt to comfort him.

“It’ll be okay. You’re right we don’t know what happens next. But I don’t mind that. I just know that no matter what comes next we’ll face it together,” Jeno confidently tells him. It does comfort Jaemin a little to know that no matter what happens he’ll have all of them by his side. It’s the first time he’s had anyone other than Jisung he could rely on. Maybe they just met but Jaemin wonders if this is what a family is like. 

“Can I ask you one more question?” Jaemin says. “Anything,” Jeno replies. 

Jaemin sits up slightly so that rather than leaning on Jeno’s chest he is staring right at his face. “What happens if you have to face your brother tomorrow? Can we even fight him? Do we stand a chance?” Jaemin asks. 

Jeno is silent for a moment before answering, “truthfully, I’m not sure. No one has ever beat him, but with all of us maybe we have a chance.” It’s not a definite answer but it’s a hopeful one. Jaemin lays back down on Jeno’s chest with nothing left to say. He listens to the sound of Jeno’s steady heartbeat as his eyelids begin to weigh down and close. 

The next morning Jaemin is gently shaken awake by Jeno next to him. “Jaemin I think it’s time to get up. I can hear the others talking and I think the maids are back to make breakfast.” Jaemin nods his head and sleepily rises from the bed along with Jeno. “I’ll go change,” He tells Jeno as he heads for the door. 

But before he reaches the door Jeno speaks up. “If we succeed today, do you think you would want to stay?” Jeno hesitantly asks Jaemin's back since he is facing the door. 

“What do you mean?” Jaemin asks without turning around to face the other.

“I mean you could stay here and continue pretending to be my servant. I could pretend to hire Jisung too. I wouldn’t want to separate the two of you like that. You could both stay here with me.” Jeno offers. This is Jaemin’s best possible outcome. Jeno is giving him the option for the best life he could possibly have after this. He gets to stay with Jisung and with Jeno. 

Jaemin turns around to face Jeno, his eyes watering slightly. “Do you mean that?” he quietly asks. 

“Of course I do,” Jeno takes a few steps closer to Jaemin so they are less than a meter apart. “Before you came, I was all alone here. I don’t want to go back to that. I can’t go back to that, not anymore.” As Jeno finishes his words Jaemin runs forward and hugs Jeno tightly. He shuts his eyes so he doesn’t cry. He doesn’t say anything as his embrace says enough. He feels Jeno press a kiss to the side of his forehead as he hugs him back. 

After Jeno’s proposal for the future and a bit longer of hugging Jaemin leaves the room and returns to his own. He changes into his day clothes. He exits his bedroom and heads towards the sounds of the others yelling and presumably eating breakfast. 

Just as expected Jaemin walks into a dining area where they are eating breakfast made by the maids. Jeno is already with them laughing along with Chenle and Jisung as Renjun chases Haechan around because of something Jaemin must have missed before he got there. He stares at the happy scene and wishes they all had met under different circumstances. 

He takes his seat next to Jisung at the table and begins to eat his breakfast as well. “Hey hyung, I went to your room to wake you up this morning but you weren’t there. Where did you go?” Jisung asks him as the excitement in the room dies down. 

“He was probably in Jeno’s room again,” Renjun casually exposes to the others that this would not be the first time Jaemin had spent a night in Jeno’s room. Jaemin flushes red with embarrassment. 

“What?” Jisung asks, still innocently confused. “Look he’s blushing!” Chenle laughs as he points at Jaemin’s face. 

As Jaemin swats Chenle’s hand away he glares at Renjun. He then see’s Haechan next to Renjun raising his eyebrows up and down suggestively. “So was it like a ‘we might die tomorrow, so let’s make love tonight’ type of thing or what?” Haechan asks with total seriousness in his voice. 

“EW!” Renjun slaps Haechan’s arm. “We didn’t need to know that!”

“HYUNG?!” Jisung looks between Jaemin and Jeno with wide eyes. Jeno stays silent but the amusement in his eyes is plain to see. 

“It’s not like that!” Jaemin yells over all the commotion. “It’s just easier to sleep together.” 

“Whatever you say loverboy,” Renjun snorts. Jaemin rather than glare at Renjun this time, Jaemin activates his power and tells Jeno  _ “Help me” _ . Jeno simply laughs and shakes his head finding all of this too funny. 

After they finish their breakfast and the maids clear the table they begin their strategy meeting for their plan today. “Okay so Mark will be at the command center today. It’s the only day out of the week that he is usually scheduled there. Although it’s the center of military operations, the command center itself is mostly administrative workers that don’t have as much combat experience as soldiers or a captain. The soldiers only come if an intruder is detected. So we just have to take out the guards that are stationed there and we can get Mark out. Although my command power couldn’t free him from the programming, I think I can still get him to leave with us using it.” Haechan tells them his plan. 

“One problem,” Jeno interrupts. “Taeyong will likely be at central command too. He is scheduled there more often than Mark and seeing as how Mark is second in command they will probably be having a meeting or something together today.” 

Haechan smiles proudly, “I thought of that too, loverboy.” He turns to Jisung, Chenle, and Renjun. “You three will head towards the security in central command and tell us when Mark and Taeyong are away from each other. Jeno and Jaemin are with me. If we get into an actual fight I’ll need their help.”

“Where’s the security room?” Renjun asks. “I don’t know,” Haechan quickly answers. “But you can use your powers to see through the eyes of the people there and find it.” 

“We’ll meet outside when we’re done. Rendezvous point will be one kilometer south of central command. Jaemin I’ll need you to keep a psychic link up between all of us, it doesn’t have to be constant but we’ll need it to be active for most of this mission if we want to stay in sync with each other. Let’s set up one minute intervals to reactivate the link, that way hopefully you’ll have time to breathe.” Haechan concludes. 

“I’ll do my best.” Jaemin answers, unsure if he’ll be able to keep up a link and complete the mission. 

“Lastly before we head in you all need to know what Mark looks like,” Haechan turns to Jeno for this last part. “Look into my memories and see him then share it with everyone please.”

Jeno does as told and reaches into Haechan’s mind and finds a memory of Mark and shares it with the others. They see a good looking young man just a little older than they are with black hair and defined cheek bones. The memory Jeno shares with them is one of him laughing and holding hands with Haechan. “Handsome guy,” Chenle remarks. 

Having felt the emotions in the memory because of Jeno’s empath abilities, Jaemin smiles at Haechan, “You really love him don’t you?” 

“I do,” Haechan solemnly nods his head. 

“Then let’s go get him,  _ loverboy _ .” 

With the basis of their plan all set, all of them once again pile into Haechan’s little hover car and head straight for central command. “I’ll drop you three at the south exit. Get in through there and send a mental message when the mind link is active letting us know your progress. After we infiltrate we’ll wait for your signal to approach Mark.” 

_ “Be careful Jisunggie,”  _ Jaemin sends the mental message to his long time friend.  _ “You too hyung,”  _ Jisung thinks back. 

Chenle, Jisung, and Renjun all get out of the vehicle and make their way to the south exit of the command center. “Okay Renjun find out where the security room is,” Chenle directs him. Renjun takes in a breath and holds it as he focuses on one of the guards by the exit. After a little while Renjun breathes out and turns to Jisung and Chenle. “I’ve got it. Luckily there was a map of the facility at that guys station.”

“Alright now how do we get in?” Jisung asks. Chenle cockily dusts his shoulders before saying, “follow my lead.” 

Chenle walks right up to the exit and as he is about to walk in he is stopped by one of the guards. “Hey kids, you can’t go in there,” the guard tells them. 

Chenle turns and looks at what seems to be the head guard. “It’s okay I can vouch for them. Let them through,” the head guard says. The guard that stopped them originally shrugs and lets them pass. As they walk through, Chenle smiles to the others confidently. “This is even easier than taking candy from a baby. It’s like making the baby give you his candy,” He laughs.

Renjun leads the way through the facility in the direction of the security room. Once they are close by Renjun activates his power making it that no one could see them. The room is full of computer monitors that show images from security cameras that are all throughout the building. There are also administrative workers monitoring the security camera video feeds. As they enter the room Chenle activates the power and talks through one of the administrative workers. 

“You guys go on your break. Things are pretty slow right now so I’ll take over for a little while,” Chenle says through the man. The other workers thank him and exit the room. Once Chenle blinks and releases his power the man looks around the room in confusion. 

“Oh shit,” Chenle whispers. “What do we do about him?” 

Renjun just shrugs in reply as he is still holding his breath to use his power. 

“Hello? Is someone there?” the man asks looking around but seeing nothing.

“Oh shit I forgot he can still hear us,” Chenle whispers again. Renjun shoots him a glare trying to get him to shut up. “What do we do?” 

“Guys this isn’t funny,” the man continues to look for the source of the voice. Just as the man stands up from the chair he is sitting in he is hit in the back of the head and falls to the ground. Behind him stands Jisung with a fire extinguisher he found hanging on the wall. 

“I’m so glad that worked,” Jisung smiles at the other two. Renjun gasps for air as he deactivates his power. As he does he smacks Chenle’s arm. “Next time say it in your mind idiot.” 

_ “Hyung are you there?”  _ Jisung thinks. 

_ “Yes I’m here Jisunggie. Everyone should be connected,”  _ Jaemin psychically replies from outside the facility. 

_ “Hyung I knocked someone out!”  _ Jisung happily reports. 

_ “We’re in the room now,”  _ Renjun says as he searches the monitors for any sign of Mark.  _ “There!” _ He points at a monitor showing Mark and Taeyong talking to each other as they exit what seems to be a control room. 

_ “They look like they just finished a meeting in the main control room,”  _ Renjun says through the mind link. 

_ “Oh they are waving and Taeyong is walking away now,”  _ Chenle tells them.  _ “Mark is back in the room and away from the general. Go now!” _

_ “Okay mind link will reconnect in one minute. Be careful,”  _ Haechan says through the mind link before the three in the security room hear silence.

Meanwhile outside the facility. “I command you to give us your uniforms,” Haechan commands three soldiers. They do as commanded and give their uniforms to Haechan, Jeno, and Jaemin. Once they have completed the task before they can do anything else Jeno uses his power and touches them, putting them to sleep. Jeno, Jaemin, and Haechan put on the uniforms. 

Now looking like they belong, the three sneak into the facility undetected. Once inside Jaemin re-establishes the link with the other half of the team.  _ “We’re in. We’re wearing uniforms. I’ll wave at one of the cameras so you know which one is us,”  _ Jaemin waves to one of the security cameras before continuing.  _ “Which way do we go?”  _

_ “Go to the end of this main hallway and take a left, then it’s the third door on the right,”  _ Renjun informs them. Haechan, Jeno, and Jaemin all having heard the directions loud and clear make their way to the destination. As they walk Jaemin keeps the link active since they are essentially in the belly of the beast. 

They follow Renjun’s directions exactly and end up right in front of the door. The three share a look before stepping into the main control room of central command. Haechan pulls open the door and they walk in. The room is dark inside but it’s lit by the giant hologram of Neocity in the center of the room and the computers that all the workers are sitting at. Very few people even notice that they entered, everyone else too busy typing away at their workstations to notice. 

They spot Mark standing across the room talking to someone that is seated at a workstation. The three boys quietly make their way over to him. Once they reach him Haechan removes his helmet part of the uniform so as to not obstruct his vision. He walks right up to Mark and taps his shoulder to get his attention. 

Mark turns around and immediately recognizes Haechan, “Haechan? What are you doing here? You need to go. You’ll get in trouble again if they see you.” Mark says as he looks around the room checking if anyone has noticed Haechan’s presence yet. 

He takes a hold of Haechan’s hand and starts to pull him heading for the door, “Please you need to leave,” Mark pleads with Haechan. 

“I know Mark,” Haechan calmly says as he uses their connected hands to turn Mark to face him. “And I command you to come with me.” Mark’s eyes glow and his posture stiffens as he says, “I will go with you.”

Mark’s eyes stop glowing as he relaxes. “Haechan let’s go,” Mark softly says as he continues to bring Haechan out while holding his hand. 

Jaemin can hear Haechan think the words,  _ “I’m so sorry Mark. I’ve used my power on you twice now. Two more times than I ever wanted to.” _

Just as Mark reaches the door and is about to open it Jisung yells into their minds.  _ “Taeyong is coming back!” _ This puts the whole team on high alert. But it’s too late to stop Mark as he opens the door and pulls Haechan out with him. Jaemin and Jeno follow along after them trying to spot Taeyong.

_ “Shit! Shit! Shit!”  _ The whole team can hear Renjun shouting in their minds. 

They soon see Taeyong as he rounds the corner from the main hallway they had entered through. “Mark, I completely forget I needed to talk to you about Winwin. Something is seriously going on with him,” the last part of Taeyong’s sentence trails off as he watches Mark walk right past him. 

“Sorry hyung, I have to go right now,” Mark tells him as he is still pulling Haechan along with him. 

Taeyong’s eyes immediately darted to Haechan, “What are you doing here?” he asks.

“Oh I was just leaving,” Haechan says as he continues to walk with Mark. 

Taeyong without another word leaps into action. With his incredible speed he knocks Haechan away from Mark. Haechan tumbles to the ground but recovers quickly ready to fight. Mark turns to where Haechan fell and starts to walk over to him as if nothing just happened. 

“Mark stop!” Taeyong yells. Mark does not stop. “Mark that is an order!” Mark helps Haechan to stand up properly before he turns to Taeyong. “Sorry hyung I have to leave now.” He responds in a monotone voice. Mark once again starts walking hand in hand with Haechan, pulling him towards the exit. 

“I won’t let you,” Taeyong declares as he pulls one of the twin daggers that are holstered on his belt. As he runs at the couple. Haechan pushes Mark out of the way as he is in no position to fight right now. Haechan dodges Taeyong’s knife and prepares to try and command him to stop but when he looks at Taeyong his eyes are closed.

“Let me guess. Your next move was going to be to command me to stand down?” Taeyong smirks. “Your power doesn’t work if you can’t see my eyes, but my powers make it that I can beat you without even opening them.” 

Haechan freezes in his place. He tries to think of his next move but before he even gets the chance Taeyong pounces. In seconds Taeyong is on Haechan and has his knife nearly to Haechan’s throat as Haechan does his best to hold it off. Taeyong’s eyes are still closed but using his other heightened senses he does not need to see to know he is about to hit his target. Just when Haechan looks like he won’t be able to fend off the attack any longer Taeyong’s body is shoved off him by Jeno. 

Jaemin helps Haechan to stand and pushes him towards Mark. “Go.” Jeno tells him. “We’ll be right behind you,” Jaemin adds. 

“I can’t leave you to fight him!” Haechan protests. “I’m stronger than both of you. I have enhancements and I couldn’t stop him. I’m not going to leave you to die.”

“We said we would help you save Mark,” Jaemin tells him. “Complete the mission. We’ll cover you.”

Haechan looks at his two friends that are risking their lives to save the one he loves right now. “Okay but before I go,” Haechan grabs the shoulders of both Jeno and Jaemin and looks into their eyes. “I command you to win this fight.” 

Jeno and Jaemin’s eyes glow for a moment. When the glowing stops they both smile at Haechan before turning back to face Taeyong. Haechan grabs Mark’s hand and starts to run down the hallway. 

“Jeno?” Taeyong asks.

Back at the security room the three boys hear the door open behind them. They turn around slowly to see the workers they sent on break a few minutes ago returning. Renjun’s power not being active means that the workers can see them as well as their coworker that Jisung knocked out earlier on the floor. “Shit,” Renjun says. 

Jisung takes the fire extinguisher he used as a weapon earlier to spray the workers to distract them. The three boys push their way through the door and into the hallway. They make a run for it but one of the workers must have notified the facility that there are intruders in the building because warning alarms start going off. 

As the three boys run through the halls Jisung gets knocked over by a blast that comes from behind them. Jisung hits the ground, unconscious.

“Jisung!” Chenle yells as he runs to his fallen body. Renjun sees the soldier that knocked out Jisung heading for Chenle so he holds his breath and makes the soldier see crows flying at him as if he were being attacked. The soldier starts screaming and swatting at the air. Renjun takes the soldier's weapon and blasts him with it. 

“I hope that was a stun laser,” Renjun says before turning to Chenle. “We need to go.” 

“I’m not leaving him!” Chenle protests. 

“I never said to leave him dipshit. Jaemin would kill us if we did,” Renjun tells him as he looks around trying to find a safe exit. “Pick him up. I have the blaster and my powers are better for fighting than yours, I’ll try to get us out of here.” 

Renjun begins to lead the way towards the exit nearest to them. They encounter a few soldiers along the way that Renjun is able to take down without overexerting himself. When they make the run for the last hallway they are met with ten armed soldiers aiming right at them. 

“Drop the weapon kid,” one of the soldiers tells Renjun. 

Renjun and Chenle who is dragging Jisung with them freeze. “Do something,” Chenle tries to subtly say to Renjun. 

“They already saw us, if I use my power now they’re going to stun us and knock us out. Then any chance we have of getting out of here is gone,” Renjun says as he puts the weapon on the ground. 

The soldiers move in closer and begin to surround them. But instead of arresting the boys, the soldiers one by one start to groan in pain. They reach for their heads and writhe in pain. Soon they all drop to the group and stop moving. 

“What the hell was that?” Renjun asks. Just as he asks Jisung wakes up and starts flailing his arms about. 

“Did you guys see that!?” Jisung asks. 

“See what?” Chenle asks.

“I took out the soldiers!” Jisung replies excitedly. “I like, flew through them and then they all got headaches or something.”

Chenle and Renjun give him a very much “wtf” look. “That looked like way more than a headache.” Renjun comments. 

“Yeah. Did you kill them?” Chenle asks, half jokingly but also half serious. 

Jisung shrugs, “I don’t think so,” Renjun and Chenle laugh a little at their friends' antics, also happy that he saved them. Renjun bends down to check the pulse of one of the soldiers. He looks up at the other two and nods his head to indicate that they are in fact still alive. 

“I was like a ghost or something it was so cool!” Jisung tells them as they walk towards the exit. 

“What did Haechan call your power? Asshole projection?” Chenle asks.

Renjun snorts, “Astral projection,” he corrects. “I think we should circle back to the front entrance before going to the rendezvous point. I have a feeling they’re going to need some help.” 

\----

“Jeno what are you doing here?” Taeyong asks his brother. Red lights are flashing in the hallway as the intruder alarms continue to ring. 

“I’m helping my friends,” Jeno simply states. 

Taeyong looks at his brother for a moment. Jaemin can see the uncertainty in his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you Jeno.” Taeyong warns. 

“Well I’m not going to let you stop him,” Jeno replies. The tension is clearly building as Jaemin sees both Jeno and Taeyong positioning themselves for a fight. 

“Then you leave me no choice,” Taeyong says before moving at inhuman speed and kicking Jeno in the chest, sending him to the ground. “Jeno!” Jaemin yells as he watches him tumble to the ground.

Jaemin tries to throw a punch at Taeyong but it is easily caught. Taeyong’s superior speed and fighting prowess make any sort of physical attack on him useless. So Jaemin decides to try a mental attack. 

Jaemin sucks in a breath and starts yelling with his mind, _“STOP!”_ with more power and ferocity than ever before, over and over again in an attempt to overwhelm Taeyong’s mind. Taeyong looks around in confusion, trying to find the source of the voices in his head. Jaemin takes this opportunity to sucker punch Taeyong in the face with his other hand.

Jaemin still holding his breath tries to help Jeno up but stops when he sees a look of terror in Jeno’s eyes. Taeyong wraps his limbs around Jaemin like a snake and begins to choke him to death. This causes Jaemin to release his breath, deactivating his power. As his ability turns off Taeyong’s hold gets even tighter. 

Jaemin struggles for air and attempts to escape Taeyong’s hold but to no use. He remembers Jeno saying Taeyong had the ability of extreme flexibility. This must be one of the reasons they call him the white snake of Neocity. Much like a snake does to its prey, Taeyong is constricting Jaemin’s airways, slowly killing him. Jaemin’s vision begins to blur as he sees black spots. He gasps for air as he tries to claw at Taeyong’s limbs to find any leeway. 

He wants to give up. When he feels like he’s all out of strength to keep fighting his eyes glow and he repeats his command, “we will win this fight,” Jaemin claws harder at Taeyong’s limbs suddenly having a new found strength in himself to keep fighting.

It doesn’t much change the situation. Taeyong is still much stronger than him, it's just that now Jaemin gasps for air harder and tries to resist harder. He’s keeping himself alive.

“SLEEP!” Jaemin hears Jeno yell. Jaemin gasps for air as Taeyong’s body falls to the ground. He feels the air fill his lungs as Jeno starts to pull him to his feet. 

“Are you okay?” Jeno worriedly asks. Jaemin coughs hard for a minute before nodding his head in response as he continues trying to catch his breath. “Okay then let’s get out of here before he wakes up.” 

The two make a run for the exit following the way Haechan went out. Jaemin establishes the mind link and reaches out to the others.  _ “Where is everyone?”  _

_ “We’re all right outside the front entrance. Renjun is making sure they can’t see us. They won’t see you if you come out here too, hurry.”  _ Haechan tells him in reply. Jeno and Jaemin nod to each other as they pick up the pace. 

The door is just within reach when they hear screaming and are hit with a mini sonic wave. Jaemin and Jeno are thrown into a wall hitting it with a thud before dropping to the ground. 

_ “What was that?” _ Jaemin asks as he rubs his head.

_ “Kim Doyoung,” _ Jeno says while trying to stand up.  _ “He’s the only one with the power to do that.” _

_ “And what was that exactly?” _ Jaemin asks, also getting to his feet. 

_ “A sonic scream.”  _

“Jeno stop whatever it is you’re doing. You’re going to get yourself hurt,” Doyoung says in a scolding tone. One might even mistake it for concern if Doyoung hadn’t just sonically screamed them into a wall. Doyoung is accompanied by 3 soldiers each of which is armed.

_ “Guys a little help,”  _ Jaemin says in his mind. 

_ “Jisung, do your astral projection,”  _ Chenle says.  _ “I’m trying! It’s not working,”  _ Jisung informs them. 

_ “I have an idea,”  _ Renjun tells them.  _ “Chenle, grab on to me. Jaemin, I’ll look through your eyes and then make Chenle see what you see. Then Chenle, use your power and take over that guy.” _

_ “Will that even work?”  _ Jaemin asks.  _ “It’s worth a shot,”  _ Renjun thinks. 

_ “What am I supposed to do when I take him over? I can’t even make them walk,”  _ Chenle asks. 

_ “I want you to scream,”  _ Renjun replies. 

“You’re brother is not going to be very happy with this if you-” Doyoung continues to scold.

Jaemin makes sure to stare directly at Doyoung. Him and Jeno watch as Doyoung stops mid sentence.

“Hey guys, it's me!” Doyoung, or more so Chenle, waves at them with a big smile on his face. Chenle then turns Doyoung’s head to look at the soldiers with him. The position looks really awkward as Chenle doesn’t have the power to move much else of Doyoung’s body. When the soldiers look to be in range Chenle makes Doyoung scream. This activates the powers in Doyoung’s body sending a sonic wave at the soldiers making them fly back. 

“This is so cool!” Chenle says as he turns Doyoung’s head back to Jeno and Jaemin. “Okay now come outside guys, so we can leave.” With that Chenle makes Doyoung look down at the ground and lets out one more scream. The concussive force of his sonic scream at this angle sends Doyoung flying back into the wall, knocking him out. 

_ “Sick combo move”  _ Jisung thinks as Jaemin and Jeno reach their group outside. 

_ “Lets go,”  _ Haechan says. Renjun, no longer being able to hold his breath is forced to deactivate his ability making them visible. He pants heavily trying to recover so that he can put his powers back up, hopefully before anyone notices them.

“Hey stop right there!” a voice yells. The boys all turn to see dozens of uniformed soldiers running at them. 

“We’re screwed,” Chenle announces. “Sorry guys, I couldn’t hold it any longer,” Renjun apologizes. 

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” Jeno pats his back. 

“Wait,” Haechan gets all of their attention. “Let’s free Mark now. He can help us get out of this.”

Haechan fishes the obelisk out of the stolen uniform he is wearing. All six of them put a hand on the obelisk. But nothing happens. They look at each other confused as to why it’s not activating or anything. “Wait, it said there were seven people that were supposed to activate it together,” Renjun remembers. “Who’s the last person?” 

“It’s Mark, it has to be Mark,” Haechan says. “His powers are psychic based too.” 

“Are you sure?” Chenle asks. 

“It’s worth a shot. Better do it now. The soldiers are almost here,” Jaemin tells them as he notices the soldiers closing in on them. Haechan grabs Mark’s hand and places it on the obelisk.

With all seven of them in contact with the artifact, it opens and a single powerful wave of white light pulses out of the obelisk. The wave doesn’t have enough force to push them back or knock them over but it's enough to startle them into dropping it.

Mark falls to the ground. And even though they stopped touching the obelisk it remains open and activated. 

“What the hell was that?” Renjun asks. “Did it work?”

“It should have worked! Why didn’t it work?” Haechan asks as he tries to help Mark. 

“Oh no,” Jeno says. All attention goes to him, they see he is looking off towards the facility doors. They all turn to follow his gaze to find Taeyong and Doyoung running out towards them as well as all of the soldiers from before. 

“We’re so dead,” Chenle yells. 

The soldiers plus Doyoung and Taeyong are closing in on them. Jaemin tries to look around for some sort of escape route. There is no way out that they can get to before the soldiers get to them. There’s too many of them to fight. They don’t stand a chance.

Just when it looks like all hope is lost, all the enemy forces are pushed back by an invisible force sending them all flying. Jaemin turns to see a now upright Mark not standing but levitating off the ground slightly. One of Mark’s hands is raised in front of him. He did this.

Mark slowly lowers himself to the ground and silently turns to Haechan. “Mark?” Haechan asks, his voice sounding the smallest Jaemin has ever heard it. 

Jaemin watches as Mark’s previously blank looking eyes fill with admiration and he begins to smile. Mark pulls Haechan in for a passionate kiss. “Thank you,” Mark says to Haechan after their lips separate with their foreheads pressed together. Jaemin see’s Haechan tear up for the first time. 

“Telekinesis?!” Chenle shouts. “I get to play puppets while you get telekinesis? Unfair.”

Jaemin smiles at Haechan and their new savior Mark as well as Chenle’s usual dramatic self. They won. They completed the mission. They succeeded. They saved Mark. A sense of relief washes over Jaemin as he looks over their complete team of now seven members. 

He looks at Jisung and thinks about how he’s glad he could keep his pseudo-little brother safe. He sees Renjun and Chenle smiling widely, also probably relieved to have finished the mission. Jaemin looks at Jeno and finds he is already looking at him.  _ “We did it,”  _ Jeno thinks. They smile at each other before both turning back to the rest of the group.

Jaemin is about to say something to congratulate Haechan and Mark and the rest of the team when he suddenly feels hand around his neck. The hand tightens its grip and slowly lifts him off the ground. He grabs and claws at the hand. His legs violently kick the air as he struggles to breath.

Jaemin sees a head of silver white hair. The one choking him is once again General Lee Taeyong but this time looking considerably more angry. Jaemin struggles to breath, this feeling getting a little too familiar. But this time he doesn’t have Haechan’s command to will him into surviving. He watches as Taeyong chokes the life out of him. Jaemin can hear the others protesting and sees them with his blurred vision running to help him.

Another bright wave of white light comes from the obelisk which is now on the ground.

As this light washes over Taeyong, Jaemin notices something change in his eyes. Taeyong’s eyes soften. Then they show confusion and then lastly they show concern. If Jaemin wasn’t choking to death he would use his powers to read Taeyong’s mind. 

“Jaemin?” Taeyong says Jaemin’s name for the first time. “Jaemin is that really you?”

Before Jaemin can answer his question Taeyong falls to the floor. 

Jaemin lands on the ground as well, coughing to try and get some air back into his lungs. 

They also see Doyoung who had just gotten back up fall to the ground again. Another wave of light emits from the abandoned obelisk. It’s range is seemingly unlimited as it continues to wash over what looks like all of Neocity. 

“Haechan what’s happening?” Jaemin croaks. 

“I-I’m not sure but,” Haechan stutters. 

Another wave of light pulses out of the device. Then another. Again and again the light washes over Neocity in every direction. 

“I think it’s freeing everyone.” Mark states with his eyes wide filled with a mixture of wonder and terror. 

The light in the sky falters and the team hears what sounds like electricity short circuiting. “Did the sky just flicker?” Renjun asks. 

All heads turn upward as they all look up to the sky. A new sense of dread washes over Jaemin as he witnesses what seems like panels are flickering and turning off. What was once the sky is now a collection of flickering and glitching light panels.  _ “What have we done?”  _ Jaemin thinks to himself. 

Not long after, all of the panels stop flickering and turn off. 

Jaemin grabs onto those around him making sure they're all safe. Once he knows they are all okay, he goes into survival mode. “We need to get out of here before they all get up,” Jaemin yells to the group. They take their leave from central command and try to head back to where Haechan’s hover vehicle is parked. As they do, Jaemin approaches Jeno and intertwines their fingers and gives it a tight squeeze. 

“Jeno, what’s happening?” Jaemin asks. 

“It looks like the power is out,” Jeno replies. 

“Neocity has gone dark.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ........ oops
> 
> HAHHAAHHHAHAHA LMAO sorry for the cliff hanger,,,,,
> 
> THE NEXT PART OF THE SERIES IS UP NOW!
> 
> as always thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! This is my first fic on AO3 and I have found that I like this platform way better than wattpad. I will probably upload my other fic from wattpad here too at some point but I am very thankful and appreciative of the people that have read and interacted with me on here <3
> 
> The next part of the series is called: 127 DAYS
> 
> see you again soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you have a wonderful day! Please leave a comment and a kudo if you feel like it! <3 stay safe and healthy everyone.
> 
> I'm going to try to update once a week!


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